Happiness and Contentment

Jill's Journal: Life is good. Correction: Life is great. We’ve been officially camping at our first sanctioned campground for not even 36 hours yet and tonight the girls caught their very first fireflies. How cool is that? These are the kind of memories we’re here to make. The excitement in their voices was absolutely infectious. Here they are with friends Leah and Alaina (all five girls were in various stages of holding fireflies in their hands!), whose wonderful parents drove up to the campground and brought us a farewell dinner tonight. We ate together, played together, swam together, and caught fireflies together. The girls absolutely loved watching those firefly rear-ends light up right in their hands!

As an aside, I’ve seen fireflies for the last 13 years here in Kentucky, but I had no idea you could catch the things at all, much less in your bare hands. Leah and Alaina’s Mom, Heather, thought it was hilarious I had no clue. I’m from the California desert, for Pete’s sake! No such thing as fireflies there. :)

We are quickly getting initiated into campground life. It’s friendly and welcoming, it’s a small-town feel, and it’s lovely. It took us a while to completely pack up and leave Nicholasville yesterday, but that will of course get quicker as we get more practice under our belts. My amazing husband handles that huge truck and accompanying 42’ fifth wheel so adeptly that I’m in awe.

We had a situation as we left Rob’s Mom’s property…the best way I can explain it is that the road leaving her driveway has been repaved/raised and the power line, telephone line, and cable line are hanging too low. The raised road and low lines meant we didn’t have enough clearance to get the rig out. Repeated phone calls to the owners of the lines resulted in no action. So Rob fashioned up two 16-foot “lifts” to raise the lines long enough for him to drive out. It completely freaked me out, but it was an amazing fix. We laughed later at the thought that flashed through my mind at the time, “Please don’t get electrocuted. I can’t drive the fifth wheel yet!!”

It felt so wonderful to pull into our designated spot at the Kentucky Horse Park Campground in North Lexington and get completely hooked up. The girls immediately spotted the playground and made themselves at home. We all enjoyed dinner outside in the fresh air and a swim before bedtime. Perfection.

Today was even better. Rob headed back down to Nicholasville to completely wrap up all the projects at his mother’s and is so relieved to now be D-O-N-E with everything he’d taken on down there. The girls and I took advantage of our proximity to the Horse Park and took one of the campground’s golf carts over there for the day. It was all horses, all day, everything from miniature mares with their foals (oh my gosh, what is cuter than a 10-week old baby horse the size of a large puppy?!) to massive English Shires. We paid a special visit to multiple champion Cigar, the top dog at the Hall of Champions, where I admit I got a little teary-eyed saying goodbye to him. He enjoyed my scratches on his nose and looked at me with that sharp, eagle eye like I was a fool for getting a little emotional. But if it wasn’t for his perfect 10-for-10 campaign in 1995 that got me so hooked on horse racing, I don’t know if we would have ever been in Kentucky in the first place. It’s been such an amazing ride and it’s all because of him. When I realized that he’s 20 now and this could be the very last time I ever see him, I felt a license to tear up a little bit.

The girls loved the horse-drawn trolley ride and visiting the great Man o’ War’s grave. But it was a moment in the International Museum of the Horse that took the cake. Madelyn, my least-horse crazy of the bunch, exclaimed, “Mommy, I LOVE this place. Can we come back here again and again? There are horses everywhere!”

After we capped the day with the great visit from great friends, the girls were in bed, and Rob returned for the last time from Nicholasville, he and I both agreed that we’re on the right path with this adventure that officially started yesterday. It’s been a long road getting to this point – selling our belongings and the massive preparation that goes into such a drastic life change. Most of it’s been smooth with just a little rockiness thrown in for good measure, but we never wavered from the goal and now we’re just so thrilled to be this far. We can’t wait to see where the road takes us and what adventures await. And most of all, we can’t wait to share it as a family. In the end, that’s the most important thing of all.