They Are Here! They Are Here!

Let me put to rest one of looming concerns of the trip back: The camera is fine. Got here without a hiccup. Oh and the people got home safe as well.

I greeted them at the gate…they all looked a little road weary. And rightly so…they’d been awake for nearly 24 hours and in the air well over half of that. Kev lost his goatee on the trip…I had seen pictures but it was a shock to see him in real life. Changes his whole appearance…after a decade of scruff…I have to get used to it.

Everyone split at the gate…Richie caught a ride with Cassie and Tyler (who arrived in a suit and with roses! We all decided that it was adorable…I showered, I want you to know…and I had punkin chocolate chip cookies waiting at home…so I felt like I should have gotten a few points for that.)

At home I looked at 5,000 pictures and watched the unpacking process. I started to hear all of the stories…I tell them to you later.

They were in bed by 11:30. I asked Megh what she learned on the trip. She said… “Communication is the key to everything…and just because you speak the same language doesn’t mean you understand what you are hearing. It was bad communication that got the camera in the wrong place…and we were in America! But in Romania, we had to take extra time to make sure we understood what people were saying to us…It’ll make filming there a special challenge.”

“The film thing I learned was that scouting for locations doesn’t mean looking for places to actually film at. It’s often looking for styles and feelings, and then we figure out how we can take all of those things and make a place or change a place into the best place for that scene. It’s a lot more complicated than I realized, but it makes a lot of sense.”

Wow. School was in session the whole time.

I’ll post the Punkin Chocolate Chip cookie recipe hopefully tonight.

Off to Hug My Fam Again at: marcyjoybryan@gmail.com

The Challenge of Re-Entry

It’s started again…spouse has been gone for a while. Other spouse carries on fine. First spouse prepares to come home. Irritability strikes.

I hesitate to even mention this. I’m afraid you’ll think I’m a bad person. Maybe I’m showing the level of dysfunctionality in my own personality and/or relationship. I think I’m afraid that, perhaps…deep down, we’re really, unlike Kev’s assertions to the contrary, the only ones who struggle with a family member’s “re-entry” home.

I sure hope not. I hope you are as wacko as me…The more I think about it, it’s your duty, really. I’m sure it says something in the Bible about it…about all being wacko…or is it concerning sanity: “no, not one”?

Anyway…I’m tired of the stress and upheaval upon Kev’s arrival. So I’m going to try something new: I’ve been told about a simple marriage prayer. You can find it here. You’ll have to scroll down and click on the woman holding the card to make it legible. I just started today…but maybe this will center me better…

I think I must have expectations…maybe of how I should be treated or what Kev should do because I’m so wonderful to stay behind. Or maybe I want him to instantly help me because my “holding down the fort” skills quit at electrical, automotive, and plumbing crisii. Or maybe it’s just that I get into a rhythm… my personality really likes patterns and regularity. And when Kevin Bryan shows up… it’s like I’m sent into a flexibility earthquake that keeps me on my toes and guessing. Certainly being flexible is a wonderful thing…but once my nice little schedule gets into a groove it’s irksome to get it out again. And worse of all: maybe my expectations are completely “reasonable” to me…but totally unreasonable to everyone else on the planet and thus I suffer from irritability at the cellular level. (That smacks of a “victim mentality,” doesn’t it? Hmmmm… Cellular Irritability… I need to remember that…)

Well there you go…my confession for you on this beautiful Saturday. The team should be arriving in Minneapolis any minute. You might want to pray for them as they head into the final stretch…I’d love a prayer or two so I can make their homecoming The! Best! Evah!

I’m Also Making Punkin Chocolate Chip Cookies To Hedge My Bet at: marcyjoybryan@gmail.com