Yesterday was an important day.  It was our one-year anniversary of being official vagabonds, one whole year since we packed up our van (Marshmallow!), locked our house in Telluride (for the first time), and hit the road as a traveling family.  ONE YEAR.  

And so here we are, back in Cabarete, Dominican Republic, after returning from six fun and frantic weeks in the USA. It's been a rough week since we returned (more on that later), and it has been a pretty crazy past month and a half, and so we are now  taking a biiiiiiiig giant breath as we re-settle into our lives here on the beach.  Breathe in, breathe out. Pat the dog.  Make a smoothie.  Go for a run.  Strum the ukelele. Breathe some more.  

Trav and I both grew up in Maine, and ever since we moved to Colorado 18 years ago, our annual trips home to New England have always been fast and furious, jam-packed schedules of excessive celebration, meaningful re-connection, and trying our very best to make enough time for all of the people we care about.  It's always nuts (in a good way), and we always gain a million pounds (not so good, but worth it).  And despite the fact that this time we were going home to TRUMP AMERICA (despicable, horrific beyond belief, awful beyond measure, vomit-inducing, shameful, not my president) we had a really great time.  

It was also very important for us to be in Maine this summer since a lot has been going on this year in Travis' family.  While we were home, we celebrated the passing of Trav's grandfather. Arthur Julia, at his beautiful celebration of life.  We also spent some wonderful time with Trav's Dad's wife Sandy, who is battling cancer with an enormous amount of grace, humor, and positivity.  It was also really great to spend time with our amazing sister-in-law Kellie, who tragically lost her son Corey this year. Trav's grandmother Lilla suffers from dementia and lives in a nursing home.  We visited her there every week while we were home.   

On our way back to Cabarete this week, a few remarkable things happened. Some were lovely and inspiring,  and some were traumatic and scary.  Because I enjoy list-making and for the sake of clarity, I will number them.

INSPIRING AND TRAUMATIC THINGS THAT HAPPENED TO US THIS WEEK:

1. On the morning we were flying out on the red-eye to the DR, Hud woke up with several huge, nasty, pus-filled bumps on the top his foot.  A few days prior, he had cut the foot by dropping a wakeboard on it, and then proceeded to put his foot into a wakeboarding boot and then started wakeboarding (we didn't clean the cut right away, a big no-no).  The result was the worst skin infection I have ever seen.  It was pure luck we were still in the US and that my sweet father, who happens to be a podiatrist, saw us that morning and treated Hud's poor foot.  Five days and some serious antibiotics later, he is on the mend.

2. We are allowed to travel with Sadie on the plane, because she is our, AHEM... emotional support animal. (If you would like more information on this, let me know.  It's a story.)  On the flight from Boston to Santiago, we found that she was bleeding a bit.  The next morning, she was having a really, really hard time peeing.  A trip to our fantastic vet here in Cabarete produced a diagnosis: stress-induced urinary tract infection, most likely caused by all of the traveling.  Five days and some serious antibiotics later, Sadie is also on the mend.

3.  When we left the US we flew into Santiago, DR and arrived at 3 am.  The next morning at the hotel breakfast, our waitress was bringing my coffee and spilled a carafe of scalding, boiling hot milk on Vivian's shoulder.  Viv screamed in agony.  I grabbed two glasses of iced juice from the table and threw them on her shoulder while Trav ran for more ice and the hotel staff  stood around uselessly like deer in the headlights.  Viv's skin immediately began peeling off and we knew it was serious.  We put her in our hotel bed and began putting ice and cold water compresses on her burn while I ran to the pharmacy down the street.  I did my best in broken Spanish and returned with ointments and painkillers I had questions about, so I called Tim Ahearn, brother of our childhood friend Kevin (as seen in reunion photo,above) at Winslow Pharmacy in Maine, who kindly gave his time and expertise to guide me through everything we needed to treat her burn. At the same time I was talking to Tim, Trav was getting in touch with our other pharmacist friend Tom Edge, who also helped us. We are so lucky to have so many friends we can call on in times of need, and most of all, we are lucky to have my Dad, who ALWAYS helps us in times of medical crisis.  We've sent photos twice each day to update him on the status of Viv's burn so he could instruct us on what to do next and what to watch out for. The lady we rent our condo from brought us an aloe plant, which we've gratefully been utilizing.  Poor, sweet Viv.  She has been so brave.  We are so lucky that it wasn't her face or her eyes that the milk spilled on, or that the burn wasn't larger.  Her burn is healing, but it will be a long time before she can swim or be in the sun, and we hope that scarring will not be an issue.  Breathe.

4. And last but not least, the INSPIRING part...

Just before we boarded our flight to the DR, we ate dinner at Legal Seafood at the Boston airport.  A tall African-American man, traveling alone, was seated at a table near ours.  I said a quick hello to him as he sat down, but we didn't converse after that.  We ate our dinner, chatting about nothing in particular. When the man left his table left he waved at us and said to Trav, "Have a good night.".  A few minutes later, our waitress came and told us that the man had paid for our entire meal.  We were dumbstruck.  Tears came to my eyes.   We finished our dinner and went in search of the man.  When we found him, he was on the phone, and then he looked up and smiled.  We thanked him profusely, and I asked him why he had been so generous to us, to strangers.  He said, "I just thought you were a really cool family.  And your kids are so smart.  I thought you deserved a treat."  We exchanged cards and learned that this man is a pastor at a church in Maryland.We will never forget his kindness, or how it felt to be treated by such a generous, unexpected surprise.  And we will absolutely forward his amazing gesture of spontaneous and joyful giving.

Until next time, Moxie readers!  Thank you for being a part of the thread of our adventuring and for being open to reading it all, the good, bad, the ugly, the sad, and the beautiful.  We have such a deep appreciation for our family, friends, and followers! xo