We had a good time away – thanks Jim and Mags for allowing us the use of your home in Bournemouth. Great to be in a house which is only a 10 minute walk away from the beach. I do love where I live now (there is, after all, no place like home) but, being still a Weymouth boy at heart, I miss being so close to the sea. Being able to stand on the shore and look out at the vastness of the sea is something I just love to do. I can sit for hours and do just that. (Actually, writing this has given me an idea for Lent Blog!) No surprise to parents out there to hear, though, that I did not really get a chance to do this last week as children don’t like to sit and stare for that long!

The week away was good. We spent lots of time together seeing some sites, walking along shore lines, crabbing on harbour sides, eating in pubs with mothers/grandmothers, playing with the camera, playing ‘skimmers’ with flat pebbles.

There were some noticeable and funny moments which I want to include here so I don’t forget them:

walking along the beach and seeing a woman walking her 2 dogs: one being an Irish Wolfhound and the other a Scottie Terrier. It looked bizarre with this giant and minute dog walking together and made me smile and think of God’s great sense of humour.

Beth developed a habit of writing poems in the car. In one poem about food she wrote about ‘roar food’ which produced a bit of laughter and discussion on the creative image that a graphic designer might be able to come up with! Could this be an alternative title for an alpha type course?! I patent and copyright it here and now – on behalf of Beth of course! Beth has started her own blog. Check out Boo’s Blog for poetry and insights on the Ryan household. I am starting to be afraid!

I realised, again, that Tom is so like me and would often retreat or lag behind to chuck stones in the sea and play chicken with the waves. I realised, again, he is growing up fast and that we have little time left with him as a child. Scary when you can still remember sitting with him in the maternity suite when he was less than an hour old!

I saw, again, the funny side of Joe and the quick wit answers he can give to seemingly any topic of conversation. I was amazed, again, at how much information a 6 year old retains and can articulate.

I was struck, as well, at how lucky I am to have such a cool family and a beautiful wife that is so talented and able to deal with a multitude of things all happening at once, and still remain focused.

Sadly, the holiday is over and we are back to the real world. A world of work and activity where it is all too easy to forget the things above that God reminded me of.