This summer, my sweet children are spread all over the earth.
Ethan, Rebecca and Baby are currently living in Warsaw, Poland for ten weeks while Ethan serves as an intern at the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw. It's a miracle how perfectly it all worked out for them, and yet it came as no surprise that it all worked out for them. From Day One, they have loved every minute of being there. Rebecca, especially, has surprised us all in how beautifully flexible she has been about the whole experience. She is drinking it in like a marathon runner at mile 25. Every time we speak to them (over FaceTime), their faces are full of smiles and happiness and excitement. In the two weeks they have been there, they have already done as much as most people for an entire summer. And they aren't even close to being done. They have plans for at least 14 weekends, but they only have eight left.
Mark has just begun a six-week internship in Riga, Latvia through a language institute. Because this is an undergraduate internship, it's not quite as legitimate as Ethan's, although it's on the same bar as Ethan's undergraduate internship at the EU in Brussels, Belgium back in 2012. He is determined to take advantage of every moment, and we are excited to visit him (and a new country) in a few weeks.
Johannah is working and going to school out in Utah for the summer, earning money (and keeping her sweet job) as well as plugging away at her degree.
Glo is here at Interlochen with me, although as you've read already, she's not living with me nor really coming around at all.
I'm here at Interlochen, working for three weeks, saving our family $3,500 in camp tuition.
And John is back at home in PA, holding down the fort, and making the rest of the money, working more hours than I want to think about.
This past weekend, John bought a plane ticket for me and brought me home for a mere 36 hours. It honestly felt like a dream, being at work at JIG in the morning, and eating dinner with him at Texas Roadhouse that night. And being at home with just him? We acted like honeymooners and had so much fun!
I flew directly from Cherry Capital Airport in Traverse City (via Detroit) straight into State College. Only three hours travel time, and only small airports to boot. Don't I wish every trip was this easy? I didn't even pack a bag, seeing as I had everything I needed at home, so it really was so easy.
Cherry Capital Airport holds a special place in the hearts of the Kennedy family. As I walked through the doors and approached Security, I couldn't help but snap this picture:
We will all remember the significance of that hallway. Two years ago, Mark came down that hall towards us, after a long series of flights from Russia, using a cane and with a bandaged ankle. And four years ago (has it really been that long?), Ethan came down it, having just made a connecting flight (via Chicago) from Poland. Although I don't remember the specific dates of those returning flights, I remember the days as if they were yesterday, because to be honest, I started awaiting those days the days my boys left on their missions. Seeing my boys walking towards us down that hall were some of the happiest days of my life.
I looked at those two days as the end of something significant. It was the end of the boys' missions. The end of so much hard work and struggle. The end of me writing daily letters to them. The end of goals the boys had had for as long as they could remember.
However, standing at the end of that hall the other day and thinking about where my boys are now, I realized that them coming home off their missions wasn't the end at all. Instead, them coming down the hall represented the beginning of something bigger and better than any of us could have imagined. Instead of closing the chapter on that part of their lives, they have opened new doors. They have taken so much from their missions and continued to use those skills. And most of all, they have used the languages they have learned. In fact, Polish and Russian are opening doors to them that others can only dream of.
I'm so impressed with the boys. Like many, they could have just shelved their language abilities, but instead they took these gifts and are running with them. I had to laugh the other day (along with Ethan) when he told me that people he knew on his mission are asking him how he got the appointment at the embassy. He told me that he wants to reply with, "I worked really hard." Amen to that, brother.
And Mark has done no less. He is only now beginning to appreciate how truly special his gift to speak Russian is. He doesn't think anything of the fact that he's taking Master's level Russian courses at Michigan, until I remind him that most kids just don't do that.
I know there are numerous fantasy and Sci-Fi references to doors from one world to another. One of the most basic comes from C.S. Lewis' first book from the Narnia series, The Magician's Nephew. Polly and Diggory put on colored rings to leave the ordinary world of planet earth to enter a different world with animals and a witch queen. There are other doors and mirrors, but I can't remember any of them at the moment.
However, I do believe that our little security hall (and returning flights hall) is one of those magic passageways. A door from the world of past greatness to a world of endless opportunities. How thankful I am that my boys were willing to step through it
Ethan, Rebecca and Baby are currently living in Warsaw, Poland for ten weeks while Ethan serves as an intern at the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw. It's a miracle how perfectly it all worked out for them, and yet it came as no surprise that it all worked out for them. From Day One, they have loved every minute of being there. Rebecca, especially, has surprised us all in how beautifully flexible she has been about the whole experience. She is drinking it in like a marathon runner at mile 25. Every time we speak to them (over FaceTime), their faces are full of smiles and happiness and excitement. In the two weeks they have been there, they have already done as much as most people for an entire summer. And they aren't even close to being done. They have plans for at least 14 weekends, but they only have eight left.
Mark has just begun a six-week internship in Riga, Latvia through a language institute. Because this is an undergraduate internship, it's not quite as legitimate as Ethan's, although it's on the same bar as Ethan's undergraduate internship at the EU in Brussels, Belgium back in 2012. He is determined to take advantage of every moment, and we are excited to visit him (and a new country) in a few weeks.
Johannah is working and going to school out in Utah for the summer, earning money (and keeping her sweet job) as well as plugging away at her degree.
Glo is here at Interlochen with me, although as you've read already, she's not living with me nor really coming around at all.
I'm here at Interlochen, working for three weeks, saving our family $3,500 in camp tuition.
And John is back at home in PA, holding down the fort, and making the rest of the money, working more hours than I want to think about.
This past weekend, John bought a plane ticket for me and brought me home for a mere 36 hours. It honestly felt like a dream, being at work at JIG in the morning, and eating dinner with him at Texas Roadhouse that night. And being at home with just him? We acted like honeymooners and had so much fun!
I flew directly from Cherry Capital Airport in Traverse City (via Detroit) straight into State College. Only three hours travel time, and only small airports to boot. Don't I wish every trip was this easy? I didn't even pack a bag, seeing as I had everything I needed at home, so it really was so easy.
Cherry Capital Airport holds a special place in the hearts of the Kennedy family. As I walked through the doors and approached Security, I couldn't help but snap this picture:
We will all remember the significance of that hallway. Two years ago, Mark came down that hall towards us, after a long series of flights from Russia, using a cane and with a bandaged ankle. And four years ago (has it really been that long?), Ethan came down it, having just made a connecting flight (via Chicago) from Poland. Although I don't remember the specific dates of those returning flights, I remember the days as if they were yesterday, because to be honest, I started awaiting those days the days my boys left on their missions. Seeing my boys walking towards us down that hall were some of the happiest days of my life.
I looked at those two days as the end of something significant. It was the end of the boys' missions. The end of so much hard work and struggle. The end of me writing daily letters to them. The end of goals the boys had had for as long as they could remember.
However, standing at the end of that hall the other day and thinking about where my boys are now, I realized that them coming home off their missions wasn't the end at all. Instead, them coming down the hall represented the beginning of something bigger and better than any of us could have imagined. Instead of closing the chapter on that part of their lives, they have opened new doors. They have taken so much from their missions and continued to use those skills. And most of all, they have used the languages they have learned. In fact, Polish and Russian are opening doors to them that others can only dream of.
I'm so impressed with the boys. Like many, they could have just shelved their language abilities, but instead they took these gifts and are running with them. I had to laugh the other day (along with Ethan) when he told me that people he knew on his mission are asking him how he got the appointment at the embassy. He told me that he wants to reply with, "I worked really hard." Amen to that, brother.
And Mark has done no less. He is only now beginning to appreciate how truly special his gift to speak Russian is. He doesn't think anything of the fact that he's taking Master's level Russian courses at Michigan, until I remind him that most kids just don't do that.
I know there are numerous fantasy and Sci-Fi references to doors from one world to another. One of the most basic comes from C.S. Lewis' first book from the Narnia series, The Magician's Nephew. Polly and Diggory put on colored rings to leave the ordinary world of planet earth to enter a different world with animals and a witch queen. There are other doors and mirrors, but I can't remember any of them at the moment.
However, I do believe that our little security hall (and returning flights hall) is one of those magic passageways. A door from the world of past greatness to a world of endless opportunities. How thankful I am that my boys were willing to step through it
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