We ended up staying the night in St. Joseph. The original plan was to get there in enough time to browse some of the stores that are right off the highway. But by 6PM after a long and busy day, there really wasn’t much left for that. We checked into a hotel and then found something to eat at Chick-fil-A. They have really great waffle fries there.

Every time we walk into a hotel room it never ceases to cross my mind, how any room we have stayed in since our honeymoon at the Super 8, has always been nicer and had an actual refrigerator. It was this special commodity back then that I was very excited to have, and the memory of using foam coolers to store our food doesn’t bring me any joy.

But you know what does? The memory of juggling five kids and all our stuff and cramming into a room together. When we walked into our room this time, and any time here lately anymore, there is this sense of something missing. The pack-n-play, the toddler, the kids super excited to find something on TV. The togetherness of our family.

But we’re making new and different memories now. The meet was a lot of fun and it was wonderful spending time with Ethan and Laura as well as her parents. The trip was short but very worth it. After the meet we went out for lunch at steakhouse in the middle of nowhere. Another teammate came too with a girlfriend who is Laura’s friend.

So we got to be the old folks who split the bill to cover all four of the college kids. This is how we love now. Laura’s dad filled up her car with gas and changed the headlights. Her mom brought her a rubbermaid tub with an artificial Christmas tree. We brought out the strat-o-matic baseball game cards. And then we left them there seemingly okay.