We just returned from four days in Richmond, Virginia. In this town, Rob and I graduated from college,  lived as newlyweds and brought both our babies home for the first time. When we left nearly five years ago, we promised to come back again and again. After one quick visit, the winter after we moved, we haven’t gone back as a family in four years.

What fun it was to remind the girls of their first home. Caroline had some memories but Katherine was too young when we moved to remember a thing. We spent time cheering at a University of Richmond basketball game, eating at many of  our favorite restaurants, taking the girls to some of our favorite landmarks and driving slowly by our old house trying desperately to peek into open windows.

But the most important thing we did in our time there was to reunite with friends. The girls are pictured above with some of the first friends they ever made, sharing dinner at our college dining hall.  Our Richmond friends are primarily our college friends and the friends I made in the sleep deprived land of new motherhood. These are the people who knew me as I grew up and as I grew into my new life as a mother. They know all the old stories. They are able to appreciate just how much the girls have grown into themselves.

Let us hope we return before another four years passes…