This spring break, our family traveled to Arizona with plans to visit family, including my two nieces, and then do a tour of some national parks in the Southwest. When things didn’t come together nicely wrapped with a bow, I started feeling uneasy about the trip and wondered if we should even do it. 

My nieces’ spring break was the week before ours, so we’d only see them for two days. Our travel dates turned out to be very high season—I’ve never used that many miles to fly within the U.S. or to Las Vegas, a destination I expected to be a great deal (although that may not be the case anymore). My son was going to miss a rugby tournament he really wanted to attend, and my daughter was invited to go to the beach with a friend. 

It seemed like things weren’t meant to be. But we hadn’t seen family in a while, so we went. 

 I’m so glad we did. We had a great time with family, our national park hopping was lots of fun, and we happened upon places and activities we hadn’t even planned on seeing or doing—like horseback riding near Zion National Park and sandboarding at Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. Plus, I remembered after booking the trip that there was a magazine conference in Las Vegas the following week. I had never attended before, so decided to go. As I write this letter, I am looking forward to the conference starting tomorrow. 

A lot of times, things just work out even if they aren’t nicely wrapped with a bow. Wishing you a happy Mother’s Day and happy not-yet-known adventures this May,

Shannon