Week 279

Positive post Sunday, June 26, 2022- Week 279.

In 1844, Thomas Haynes Bayly, one of England’s more versatile writers, wrote the poem titled “Isle of Beauty” which included the phrase “Absence makes the heart grow fonder”. Bayly is credited with popularizing the phrase, but he took it from Francis Davison’s Poetical Rhapsody written in 1602. Bayly also noted that “Prolonged absence makes the heart forget”. Okay, enough research and history.

Michele and I can certainly attest to Bayly’s phrase. In March and April two of our daughters, Heather and Alison, and their families (including 5 of our 12 grandchildren) moved to Idaho. As you might imagine, seeing them leave was a very emotional experience for our family and their absence has not only made our hearts grow fonder (AKA – we miss them dearly), but it also left a big void in our daily lives and the lives of our family still in town (We are grateful to still have Stacy and Kristy and their families in town).

In an effort to prevent our family from experiencing Bayly’s other phrase (Prolonged absence makes the heart forget), Michele and I visited our “Idahoians” this past week. We were blessed to spend a FULL active week with all of them. Our visit was packed with experiences from all 3 legs of the Triangle of Life: Faith, Family and Fitness. As you can see from the pictures attached, we attended Mass at a beautiful church, spent quality family time, visited many sites around Eagle, Boise (yes Aubrey, Boise not Boize) and Emmett, went on many walks and bike rides and even had a chance to visit with our friends Roger and Tracy Frey and their family.

Although the week went by fast, we created MANY memories (riding to my “favorite place” in Legacy, counting our laps around the pond with rocks, visiting Emmett, getting ice cream at Stella’s, lots of mountain bike riding, celebrating Father’s Day and our 39th Anniversary, birthday gift shopping and the list goes on).

We had a great time and we can’t wait for our next visit! We also hope to visit our son Jeff and his family in North Carolina later this year. We purchased tickets to fly back in early 2020 but all travel was suspended due to the pandemic. Our grandsons Andrew and Austin are growing up so fast and we don’t want our prolonged absence to make their hearts forget us.

What are you doing to stay connected with family that live far away?

What memories have you created to keep hearts growing fonder?