the people, the place...

There are places each of us long to be.  Places to which we feel connected.  Maybe we grew up there.  Maybe we didn't.  But for whatever reason, when our bodies inhabit that place, it feels as if our souls are truly home. 

And there are people to whom we are connected.  Perhaps by blood.  Many times not.  But when you are together, you feel a greater sense of who you really are and less of who you find yourself trying to be.  It feels as if no time has passed.  And there are hours to just be and not do.

This week those two things, the place and the people, have intersected, and it leaves my soul singing.

My family is enjoying a week at the Outer Banks in North Carolina.

Here's a small peek at the first half of our time together, though I haven't taken my camera out to the beach just yet...


(my parents, my sister and her family, our family- minus Marc, the photographer- and my brother and his family arrive tonight)


Around the beach house...




(yep, we are bathing in the kitchen sink.)  :)


A morning out at the park...




Cousins.




A rainy day trip to the North Carolina Aquarium...


(who is this girl?  I don't recognize her!)

These people.  This place.

(to be continued...)