the black eyed susan: family, camping, and a little bit of full circle

This weekend, I travelled with my cousin Jill, her husband, and her two young children to Savannah to do some Easter-weekend camping. We rode bikes, went to the beach, ate ice cream, toured Savannah, looked at stars, found Easter eggs, laughed, sat on picnic tables, reminisced.

Jill and I were quite close when we were young. Her mother and my mother are sisters and have always been close on two fronts: 1) they are numbers four and six out of seven children, and 2) they are the only two of those seven siblings to move to Maine. Both sisters had three children close in age, and so, our two families were close. Every year the Burdets and the Robisons spent two weeks over July 4th camping at Lily Bay State Park in Maine.

I give you this background knowledge not because I think my family history is interesting to you, but because it provides the backdrop to our camping trip down here. At least ten years since we've camped together in Maine, it was time for Jill and I to throw an impromptu reenactment. Swapping pine trees for live oaks (Spanish moss most definitely present), we had fun catching up, tenting out, and playing with the kids.

All the while I was struck by how Jill reminded me of her mother, my aunt. And so I couldn't possibly be shocked when she noticed the same in me. "You act just like your mother," she said. "I look at you and I see Aunt Martha." And even though I know a lot of women my age who would insist that this is their worst nightmare, in that moment I knew that things were exactly as they ought to be. I may feel like a wayward soul drifting in this corner of the world, but I still reflect the image of my mother.

Things are feeling a little 'circle of life' over here. Sorry 'bout that. But its nice to feel a little bit of home when you're so far away. Its nice to feel grounded for a moment, when in the grand scheme of things you feel anything but.

Me and my mama back in December: