days like this

on april first we made a trip to shreveport, louisianna. my camera ended up captive in the vehicle so all i got were a few pretty terrible shots on the way out of town. see the brick pavers in the road? that is one of the simple little details i like to find around this area. i love old things and there seems to be a treasure trove of historical little nothings here. on our way to church each sunday we pass a massive old brick building that was once a hospital to the busy railroads here. it's old and crumbly and completely covered in green vines. i love it. it makes me smile every time. also in the heart of that same town is nestled the historic buildings of the town's beginnings. the original fire department, which still sports it's name on a slab of stone at the top of the fourth story. at the bottom you can see traces of the sections which housed the horses as they were fed and rested between calls. yes, you read that right. they had horses that pulled their water wagons. water wagons? maybe i made up that word. all the while you are driving across cobbled brick roads that are so old that you bump bump bump the entire way. {please don't ever change that.} these are the little things that get my heart bump bump bumping. and have i mentioned once or twice the thick thick cover of trees and vines and vibrant green grass? i think i have. i love that too. and it's a good thing that i do because there are oh so many things i miss on days like this.

i miss family dinners at my parents house where it is usually so loud that you can't even think and at any given time you can be found holding three different conversations with six different people while enjoying a show of acrobatics performed by some small group or another.

i miss going into to heber market and running into half the town or the neighboring kids who rode their bikes over for a piece of candy and a pop.

i miss pushing my stroller full of boys to the county park for the afternoon.

i miss park wednesdays with the familia. the aunties and the uncles who would play with my kiddos while i sat on a picnic blanket and enjoyed adult conversation in the warm weather under the shade trees with my bare feet.

i miss lunches out with my longtime friend and conversations that dated back to our primary days.

i miss the boys playing with poppy and nana out at the swing set and all the funnies the boys would get out of poppy. i thought for sure they would get to help him in his garden this year. i loved poppy's garden.

i miss just being able to pack up in the car and stop by a friends house to say hi or drop by some goodies. i miss how every one's homes were always open.

i miss primary. i miss being in there with gage and i miss all of those kids and the teachers and the women i served with. i even miss those eleven year old boys!

i miss camp-outs and get-togethers.

i miss picking up a handful of the sibs before a trip to wally world and goofing off with them in the arcade after the torment of shopping was over.

i miss sharing books.

i miss our neighbor kids showing up to play with the boys and the funny things they did and said.

i miss life back in arizona. i miss the place itself but the people even more. if i could convince a few truckloads of family and friends to pack up their things and head for texas i would be perfectly happy to live out the rest of my days here.

does it sound like i'm feeling sorry for myself? maybe a little. i just really do miss it sometimes and i guess that's probably normal. that's just me getting through and somehow writing it out is slightly therapeutic for me. so i hope you don't mind me on days like this.