Flying across the country - worth it every time

There are certain things that seem overwhelming until we do them. Perhaps, in retrospect, most things are this way. I am always overwhelmed by planning trips back east. First, there is a the plane ticket. I can never tell if I am getting a good deal on a ticket or when stopping over in Chicago and leaving before any of the airport stores are open no longer making sense to save a bit of money. Then there is picking the date. If its a non-holiday this can be hard because you can go anytime or delay anytime. Recently, I took the good advice of the friend I was going to visit and just booked my tickets. On a trip out to visit me she told me she bought her tickets because she reasoned if you don't, you end up never going. I am sure some of you can relate to this phenomenon. So I booked my tickets and was on my way.

I had quite the incentive to visit. My friend Maeve just had her second baby boy, Ciaran.



When I went to visit her first baby boy, Declan, he was already close to 6 months old. This time I was determined to not wait as long and I made it out there 8 weeks after the birth.



I had so much fun its hard to describe if you were not there.



We talked and ate great food. We walked to the park and folded laundry and watched a terrible movie. We wandered through stores and walked along the beach. I burped the baby boy and mistakenly put the older one's diaper on him. Luckily his mother changed him before bed. We ate pancakes and played with stickers. I witnessed the most lovely reunion between father and son when Maeve's husband, Mike, returned from a trip out of town. It was hard to leave and come back home.

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Conor couldn't make it this time, but will definitely next time. Maeve and I dreamed up family trips to the Pacific Northwest and Tahoe and I can't wait to make those trips happen.

In the picture above you can see the blanket I knitted for Ciaran. Stay tuned for more on that and my prodigious friend Melanie who started knitting recently too!