Monday, October 18, 2010

Travel Dreams.

It's remarkable how after an incredible weekend chock full of memorable moments, laughter with friends, fresh air, wild scooter rides through downtown, great movies and more, something will happen between DK and me, the world will freeze around us and staring into his eyes, I'll recognize that "THIS... this right here is my favorite moment of all."

We had an awesome weekend. Falling asleep on Sunday night, I'll feel the greatest amount of satisfaction in a weekend well spent if we were responsible/productive to a certain degree (vacuuming, laundry, organizing, etc.), if there was plenty of interaction with our favorite people (church, going out, get togethers), if we cooked or ate an outstanding meal, and if we had a considerable amount of time to rest. I don't have a check list per se, these are just the elements we like to indulge in on our days off. The best part came Sunday night though, when the dishwasher was loaded and running, dogs were exhausted and snoring from a day at the park with the Boyd boys, TV was off and we were settled on the couch, facing each other... just talking.

That was it for me, the moment I've waited for my whole life. But you know, there are several of them a day though, like when I walk through the door after a long day of work and the dogs come racing down the hallway, crashing into me, DK not far behind them sounding the trumpets that I'm home. Or when I'm standing in the olive oil section of HEB watching my husband in deep thought and serious consideration over which oil he'd prefer for his latest recipe. And my favorite, leaning on his chest, his arms around me as we ride the elevator to our floor. It's only about a 30 second ride but is one of the most cherished parts of my day.

And all this... with my husband. He's finally here.

As we sat on the couch last night talking, the conversation steered towards dreams of travel plans and where we'd like to go. I've had Italy on my mind for years and have wanted to go back for so long. But I told him "I really want to take our time, maybe go for an entire month and travel from London through France and into Italy." I told him how I'd wear dresses and sandals everyday, would ride our bikes to the market and get fresh flowers and vegetables for dinner, then later cook at our villa as the sun set... and stay long enough that we get to know our neighbors. Then I asked him about his Top 5 destinations and he scrunched his face. "This is kinda stressing me out, Liz."

He went on to tell me that thoughts of traveling for months at a time were causing him to think more about where to board the dogs for that long, what about the house we are now talking about buying, what about our jobs, etc. I'm sure he wasn't too thrilled that I started laughing as he listed these worries outloud but his pensive and determined facial expressions were so dang cute and were totally cracking me up. And this is where I realized I was sitting amidst my favorite moment of the weekend.

I told him "I'm not putting a when or how on these dreams that have been on my heart for so long at all. In fact, I won't attach logistics to these dreams right now because if I did, it would weigh them down, taking them from "one day" to "never at all". That's not to say it's not important to be realistic about things, duh, but I really want to continually breathe a freedom of thought and out loud imagination into our house because nothing is impossible or unattainable."

We talked more about how logistics will work always work out, but that the ability to dream is something we never want squashed in our home. Not with us, not with our kids. That man brings such a balance and grounding to my life that I appreciate and long for more of. From there we talked about Iceland, some film programs, and tons of other distant (but not that far off) dreams for the future. I'll never find the words to describe how my heart was BURSTING with contentment, sitting in the home we created together and talking about these ideas out loud.

I think the enemy really wants us to put boundaries on how far we let our hearts dream and hope because of a life situation, inabilities, lack of whatevers and especially because our budget will never afford it. Whatever!! That's not for him to decide so why let him steal it from you? Take it back!!

And just say "Italy" out loud right now. Ihhh-talllll-eeeee...

In Venice with college friends - November, 2000

3 comments:

Heather said...

Keep posting messages of dreams and hope! I've been wishing you would blog about a time before DK (not because I don't love hearing about you guys, but because I want to hear about where your heart and mind were.) Did you trust that you would find each other? Or did you not think about it at all?

I'm 25 (almost 26) & have been dating a guy for almost 6 years only for him to come to the realization he may never want to get married. I'm the girl who wants a husband, house, and eventually kids badly. (Maybe too bad.) I'm beginning to lose hope and have regrets.

All of that to say, please keep on with the dreams, hopes, and testimonies of God coming through.

Keri said...

I love this. I love the idea of dreams coming true. And, I love Italy.....so this post was just perfect in my eyes.

Stephanie said...

STOP IT! I was just telling my sweet husband how much I'd love to take him to Italy one day (he's never been). And of course, we still have dreams to backpack Europe slowly. Financially we aren't even close to being able to do that yet, but it's a deep rooted dream.