the value of family

It seems to me that when I sit down to write, I'm left wordless. There are thoughts in my head, and as we walk an our feet pound on the pavement I think, "Man, I need to remember this to write in the blog". And then I promptly forget.
But as we were walking today, and I was thinking about how long it has been since I've written on the blog, I decided today to write about the company the four of us have been blessed in the last couple of days.
When we were with Sylvia and Dale, right outside of Glode, it was my night to call home. None of us had phone service, but Sylvia let me use her cell phone to call home. The service was still sketchy and I had to stand over the sink in order to keep it working. I called my mom and recognized how excited I was to hear her voice, and my heart pinged a little in homesickness. I was in the middle of giving her the information she needed to pass on to the other parents and the phone went out. I felt terrible...I didn't get to say good bye or see how the rest of the family was...I didn't even get a choice. It just went off. I tried calling again and I couldn't get through. I leaned over the sink, let a tear drop in, then sucked it up to call one more time. It went through and I got to finish my conversation.
We met up again with my cousin Carol Ann and stayed with her and Mark another night in Eugene. I was so relieved to see a loving face, as was the rest of the group. The comfort of family was overwhelming and we all went to bed early for the night. We were slow moving the next morning, taking our time meandering...we took a long time running our errands as well. We actually took so long that we ended us not being able to walk at all and staying with my aunt for a night...it was hard the next morning to say good bye to her. It felt a lot like saying good bye to my mom. But we took so long again running errands, trying on backpacks and other various things, that we ended up again at my aunts.
Carol Ann and Mark brought me my backpack today while we were walking. We all bought new ones, but McKenzie Outfitters did not have another small in stock and they were gracious enough to work with Granite Gear to overnight it to the store. Once Carol Ann and Mark left us, I started thinking about all the wonderful things they had done for the four of us. Feeding us and putting up with us as we are still very much beginners and are slow...
I don't know what we would have done without them. We'd be lost in Oregon, desperately trying to find someone to carry us around, to love us, and to guide us where we needed guidance. We're staying tonight about 13 miles out of Eugene at Mark's sisters. They took us is in because they are Mark's family.
And even more importantly, as Lauren keeps saying, the four of us are growing together as a family. We trust, rely and share with each other, knowing that in this family, no one is left behind.
I wanted to write this awhile ago, but on our plane ride out of St. Louis I sat next to a wonderful man named Vern. I will post a picture of him later, but he was a wonderful plane partner. His dog Peanut Butter was so cute and little. Vern was encouraging to my very nervous self. He told me a lot about his life and he listened while I told him about mine. I still get a little agitated on airplanes, I don't like being cooped up and sometimes taking off and landing scares me...but being next to Vern relaxed all those fears.
So Vern, if you read this, thank you.