Mother's Are Allowed to Cry When You Say Good-Bye

The Preacher and I traveled to Galveston Island, Texas, a couple of weeks ago. Our son and our daughter-n-law came up from Killeen to stay with us for the week. 

We planned our trip for a couple of months, anxiously awaiting the day that we were to fly out. I was so excited to see the kids and to experience some place new. We searched for the best places to eat. We searched for the best touristy type of places to see. We searched for the best of what Galveston Island had to offer. We did them all, well at least we tried to take it all in.

The week went by so fast and before you know it we were saying good-bye.  

Every time I fly out to Indiana to visit with my family and my mother, at the end of my stay I will hug my mother good-bye and I will see that she will be crying. I ask her, "Why are you crying?" I will even scold her a little for crying. I will then tell her, "We'll talk on the phone soon and in no time I'll be back to visit again." 

Now I know. Now I know why she was crying! Even though I had told her I would call, she knew it wasn't the same. Even though I had told her I would visit again soon, she knew it wouldn't be soon enough. Now that our son is living away from us, I too know these truths.

On our trip, if I thought about it enough, even a few days before we left, tears would come to my eyes, knowing that I didn't have a lot of time left to be with the kids. On the last day I cried. I tried to hold it back, tried to not cry in front of our son, but on the ride back to the airport, I let it all out! I cried and cried!

Upon arriving back I couldn't think about coming back to the house, back to our routine lives. We stretched our stay out one more day. Both the Preacher and I were in a depressed mood. Just saying the kid's names in a conversation, would be enough to make me cry. A friend asked me if it was hard to get back to the everyday and of course, I said YES IT WAS!

It's been a couple of weeks now since our trip. We're better, but even now while writing this a tear began to come to my eyes. 

So the next time you visit your Mom and upon the day you are to leave and you see that she is welling up a little, let her! And be sure to cry right along with her. Those tears are nothing to be ashamed of. Those tears are her way of expressing her never ending love for you!

A few people have asked about our trip so I thought I would post some of our pictures.

The pier was across from our hotel. Jimmy's Restaurant was on the top of the pier and this was our first place to eat. We sat outside and watched the seagulls, the fishermen pull in their catches and watched the waves roll in. It was a great way to start our trip!

Surge! (Formally known as Sarge, the Church Dog) came along for vacation too! He was so excited to see us, and we were excited to see him.

I told you we searched out where the best places were to eat! Below, the first picture is of the Preacher eating oysters at the Black Pearl Oyster Bar in old downtown on Galveston Island. The second picture is at Pook's in Santa Fe, Texas. The guys ate 5 pounds of craw-fish all by themselves. And the thrid picture is a little place that had cool swings to sit in, picnic tables, and a really good food truck. The guys enjoyed playing corn-hole.

The next three pictures are all from old downtown and on the Pier.

We also took the ferry over to another island. It was so windy but we had a great time!

My Kids!

Love from the Preacher and I