Paddle to Normal Island

I have been feeling better lately. There has been a slight edge taken off the tension that I feel as I go through the days. The shift happened a few weeks ago when we packed our little family into the car at 3:30 in the morning and went on what would prove to be an epic adventure, we were headed to normal island. Jared was going to participate in the Paddle for Sorel and we were going for the party. We were going to be with our tribe, where everyone is like us. The event was starting at a beach that was about 4 and a half hours from our home so we got an early start to the day. With a big jar full of iced coffee and some loud music on my headphones we made great time, it helped that Claire didn't stop breathing (last time we did this I couldn't say that, so it's a big deal, you can read about that here) and everyone slept the first few hours. The rest of the day is a bit of a blur. Since we got there early we went to our friends house where we met up with our other friends who had a long journey to get there...from England, with twin 3 year olds, it was like Christmas, seeing family that we had longed to be with, I was giddy with excitement. With the boys all ready to paddle we headed to the beach to send them off.

 There was this strange, dramatic sense of awesomenss watching all of the paddlers take off from the beach, they were all so pumped to be doing this for the girls, there was so much love, so much passion, it took my breath away. Once they were out of sight we headed over to the other beach to meet up with the other families and wait for the arrival of all of the paddlers. I sat in the sand with Claire and our new little friend Olive who I was so excited to spend time with as I have fallen in love with her reading her blog. Chloe somehow got soaked head to toe in her clothes so she ended up running around in a tshirt which she thought was the fanciest dress ever. After more fun in the sun than could be imagined the party continued to the house of the friends we were staying with. There was so much chaos and crazy but it was so fun and calm, it really was like heaven. Slowly people left and we were down to our family, our lovely host friends and another family that we love dearly that was in town for the paddle too. All added, there were 3 four year olds, 3 seven year olds with Rett syndrome and 6 parents who were had questionable amounts of sanity. It sounds like a recipe for disaster but it was magical, the sibling playing, the girls hanging out and the parents unwinding. We slowly got up, hit the pool for a bit and eventually had to head home. It was only 36 hours but it felt like so much more. We crammed more laughing, crying, hugging and chaos into it than most experience in a month. As we headed home that feeling of isolation was gone, we weren't wandering around in crazyland by ourselves, there are so many out there on the journey with us. So when Chloe puked all over me in the middle of the gas station on our way home it really didn't phase me, I just took my shirt off and put a new one on, because that's what you do when you are covered in puke, you change your shirt. Lesson learned, when you are feeling alone, head to normal island, it's out there.