Showing Up Is the Work…

I didn’t want to get up Friday morning and drive two hours to South Carolina. Not after spending the previous night out way past my bedtime celebrating our regional Teach For America’s 25th local anniversary. It was a beautiful night, one of those rooms where you can feel the impact in the air. But if I’m being honest, I was already running on fumes from a long week of commitments.

There’s something about being around people who’ve been part of your journey, people who knew you when you were just getting started, that brings you back to life. On the ride home I remember telling my wife, it was just so good to see everyone, and to see everyone shining and doing so well.

My favorite part of course was getting to reunite with all of my old friends from over the years. From the initial oh my goodness I haven’t seen you in so long! to the multiple selfies with friends that I see to infrequently even though we live in the same city. By the end of the night, I wasn’t ready to leave. I found myself back on stage after everything had wrapped, calling a few old teammates up for one last group picture, just trying to hold onto the moment a little longer.

But the weekend had other plans.

Regardless of how late I arrived home, I knew that I still had a bit of a gauntlet to go. I’d already promised my mother and grandmother that I was coming up to South Carolina for a visit. It had been a couple of months since I layed eyes on them (outside of regular FaceTime calls of course) and besides, I wanted to check in to see how things were going.

And if I’m honest, I always brace myself a little before those visits.

Whenever I go home I always gear myself up for the unexpected. Maybe something is broken around the house that they’ve been waiting to tell me about when I get there in person. Sometimes there’s a new financial need that needs to be address or some family drama to broker a peace around. Either way, I’m always a bit on edge not knowing how things are going to play out. Couple that with already being tired and I wasn’t sure how long I could muster the energy to be everyone’s hero for the day.

As it turned out, there was only minor drama (I’ll take it!) and mostly everyone was on their good behavior. I even got to take my mom, grandma, sister, and aunt out for lunch and to my mom’s favorite place, the local bookstore to get a few books. All told, it was a pretty sweet time and I’m glad I kept my word and made the drive.

The next day I got up and did the same thing with my oldest daughter who just turned 16. Riles doesn’t ask for much, but the one thing she wanted on her 16th birthday (besides to play hookie from school and hang out at the aquarium which we obliged), was to do a hike in the Providence Canyon State Park, affectionately called the Little Grand Canyon. I had to make it happen.

Six years ago, we did that same hike with family friends… nine kids under ten between us. Back then it felt more like crowd control than a nature walk. So I figured, this time should be easier. Thankfully it was.

So we were off on another road trip, this time about 2 hours each way from our house. But the ride was well worth it. Because once again, memories were made that we’ll always keep with us. And, bonus, this time we discovered new parts of the canyon that I guess we were too distracted or perhaps busy running after toddlers to notice last time.

But, the weekend wasn’t over. The next day we rose early to cheer on our daughter London at 8am for her fourth track meet of the season. By the end of the weekend I was definitely tired, but a good kind of tired.