Traveling Mercies

Note: It’s now Sunday evening. The Meredith brothers arrived this morning having decided to drive straight through…ah youth! Thanks for all your well wishes!

I had my hair cut and colored by someone new today (gasp—cue scary music). I was telling Amanda, the great stylist at Rituals in Billings that today is a big day for me (not just because I was venturing from the safety of my Phoenix hair salon and dear friend and stylist, Lori Friddle)  because two of my children are traveling across country together by car and I’m trying to seem nonchalant. Amanda said she doesn’t have children, but she has a mom…so she understands!

My hair turned out great, but my worries didn’t subside as my thoughts kept turning to my boys—Will, age 20 and Patrick, age 17—making the trip from Phoenix to Red Lodge together in Will’s Toyota truck.

Now bear in mind that by the time I was Will’s age, I was planning a wedding and had already driven round trip from Montana to Missouri at least three times. Plus, if I had a three day weekend, I’d think it was perfectly reasonable to drive from Topeka, Kansas, to Fargo, ND, to see my sister Sharon and her family. I did this in all kinds of weather and with no incentive other than to be with the people who love me. So, I know my boys will be okay. But it is different being the parents under these circumstances, isn’t it? And my parents didn’t have the luxury of cell phones to chart my progress across the mid-continent. I try not to abuse the access to near-constant communication. I try to let them be. But I still wrap them in prayers for Travel Mercies as they say in Africa.

My prayers aren’t just that their journeys—wherever they may take them—be safe, but that they be rich. Rich in laughter, diverse experiences, incredible beauty and little moments that tell their hearts, “wow…we wouldn’t see this at home.”

My boys are amazing, and as they pointed out when the book was published, Mary Charlotte is often the one mentioned and pictured in my writing. (And she, too, is an absolute gift!) But tonight, as the brothers Meredith make their way north through the dark of Utah together, let me tell you how incredible they are.

When I am with them around girls, I realize these boys are attractive, but honestly, that never occurs to their mother much. What does occur to me is that they are so in sync with one another that they’d beat the Smothers Brothers hands down in any stand up (or musical) entertainment act. But neither of them is quick to take center stage. They are big…WIll enjoys rugby and is 6’2″ and Patrick, known to his friends as “Stick” is 6’6″. But they are unassuming and humble. They yield the spotlight when I might nudge them into it and are quick to support the efforts of their friends and family rather than to promote their own interests. They are each great listeners and are beyond funny…you sort of have to experience them to believe it. Patrick’s humor is rather quiet and incredibly dry and sophisticated. And Will has to know you before he lets his multiple personalities out…and once they appear…bar the door because they won’t stop until you’re laughing…hysterically. Together, the boys’ sense of timing and comic material amazes me.

They both love their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, and have an affection for their sister that is layered between teasing with which she is inundated. They both are peacemakers and I believe each of them has already made the world a much better and richer place. They like to work hard. They love to feel cozy and secure in their nests. And they love each other.

So on this dark night, when I can’t be with them, I am so grateful they have each other.

And for all the Bloomin’ Blog photo opportunities that have excluded them…here are The Marvelous Meredith Brothers…

In the summer of 1995

Hiking (or, in the case of the first photo, running from the woman with the camera) in Montana, June 2008.

And the Merediths of the Mountain…Will, Mary Charlotte and Patrick…Christmas morning in Red Lodge, 2008.

Travel mercies to you, my precious sons. And to my bloomin’ friends, rest easy knowing the world has two more fine young men present and ready to grow goodness.

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