life rearranged.

as is our habit after church, we went out to eat. (thank you for the places that are open and folks who work on the sabbath. my stomach thanks you) bama girl and her friends sat at a nearby table, and we occupied one nearby. we were greeted by hearty hellos from the table as if it had been weeks since we had seen each other.
it has been, actually.
bama girl has been taking a class at a local college to get a requirement out of the way before going back to bama in a month. anatomy and physiology. sixteen days of pure hell. she's not seen the outside of her room for a month, with the exception of the 15-20 hours she's been working. her last class is today and she'll rejoin the land of the living. and we'll begin seeing the girls at the house again. yay. i love those girls.
and the boys have been working full time at an adventure camp. they finish work at 4. they crawl, exhausted, to their cars and go someplace cool and quiet. after 8 hours in the 90+ degree heat, it's a necessity.
because of this pattern, the grass is growing back in my front yard. no wiffle ball for three weeks now. i'm having withdrawls.

anyway, i digress. (shocker, i know)

back to lunch.

on one side of us, a rowdy table of college kids all talking at the same time and enjoying catching up after not seeing one another for the last month (many of them are in summer school).
on the other side of us, a dad with his pre-teen daughter.
the hubs had a clear view of them, watching them interact and share time together.
sigh from the hubs.
"that dad and his daughter," he began. "she has downs."
"i noticed."
"i can't imagine the feeling of looking down at your new baby and realizing that the future you had planned for her is going to look so different. your entire life altered in a single moment."
"yeah. like life rearranged."
"not that this life isn't full of blessings and possibilities… just different from what you expected."

he looked over at the table of college kids… then back at the dad and his daughter.

it was quiet at our table for awhile.

life rearranged. 

made me think of a blog i follow. amazing stories of folks whose lives became rearranged for various reasons. and a vehicle for giving back. it seriously is the coolest thing…. please visit. and give.
your heart will be blessed.