It was a true treat to see old palls Tully and Tara Lale again this past weekend and meet their AMAZING kids for the first time!! Just to clarify, they’re not old and neither are we for that matter, but the friendship is quite old and we haven’t seen each other in more than a decade. I could go on and on about the happenings and the catching up of the day, but I will let Tully tell that side and I will stick to telling the story in pictures this time. Enjoy, and thank you so much to the Lales for taking time out of their amazing journey to part take in our own little journey.
After a gap of approximately 11 years, we reconnected with some dear friends, Mike and Holly Davis last weekend. We visited them at their new home and they proudly showed us why Portland, Maine is where they chose to live. We toured lighthouses, picked apples at one of Maine’s many, beautiful orchards, walked the beach along the North Atlantic and we ate, laughed and reminisced together. So much has changed for us both since college, (I.e. Careers, family, homes…) yet the fun and laughter nearly never stopped for the day. It was exactly what Tara and I really needed.
Since my wife’s victory over cancer last spring, Tara, our kids and I have been on a journey around the country. We’ve sold most of our possessions, quit our jobs/schools and live in a 30-foot travel trailer. This “life journey” that we’re on is in extreme contrast to our “normal lives” from before…
Instead of sales meetings, conference calls, activity reports or running errands, cleaning, dropping off/picking up kids, PTO meetings, on and on and on…..we now spend our days together, working for bible camps, churches, orphanages, and visiting some of our nation’s most magnificent landmarks. I’ve come to realize that meeting family, life-long-friends and making so many new brothers and sisters in Christ has healed Tara (and all of us) better than any medicine in the world.
These “smooth waters” that we’ve enjoyed recently came after a year of “tsunami-like rough water”. It is the purpose of a lighthouse to help ships navigate rocks and hazards through the break so they can make it to their destination safely. As we look out over the North Atlantic at these beautiful lighthouses, I am inspired. I recognize that loved ones are our proverbial lighthouses. Friends like the Davis’ guide our path and provide us direction and mostly comfort that our journey is definitely the right one.
As Henry David Thoreau said, “nothing makes the Earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes.”
We hope to enjoy many more days like this, but until then, I’m thankful for the amazing photographer skills of Mike Davis to remember it by.
Check out more of Tara and Tully’s adventure of a lifetime on their blog, “Lales’ Road not Taken.”
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