Not your typical Spring Break

I could have titled this post "A mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do."

Or "What it looks like when a mom gets to do something really special."

Or "Why I'm still not over my jet lag."

No matter what I called it, this is what I would show you:

That's one of my favorite photos from Spring Break.  As you can see, it's taken in a modest restaurant.  But this modest restaurant is in East Asia, where I went to visit my oldest son.

The last time I saw him was August 13 of last year.  Here we are just before I put him on the plane, when I was valiantly fighting back tears:



Truthfully, I didn't go all that way to see more of the world.  I wasn't dreaming of international travel.  I didn't need to rack up frequent flyer miles.  I just wanted to see my son.  I wanted to catch a glimpse of what he's doing, to share a bit of his life.

Somehow it doesn't seem like that's it's been too long ago that my son and I looked like this:



But as you might guess from my floral pajamas, this was taken was 1991, and at that time Will was utterly dependent on me for everything.  I'll be honest: during my time in East Asia, I felt almost as though our roles were reversed.  Since I knew nothing of the language or the locale, I was pretty much dependent on Will for everything.  And God bless him: he took awfully good care of his Mom.

The end of my week in Asia brought a big treat.  Before I came home, Will and I got to fly to Beijing, China, where neither of us had ever been.  The very best part of that trip?  Driving out to the countryside and taking a little climb:

And here's my favorite.  I instagrammed this photo with the caption: "Hard to beat climbing the Great Wall of China with your firstborn." 

 

Later, Will instagrammed the same photo.  His caption? "Great Mom. And a wall."

For that, my friends, I'd fly a long, long way.

Have you ever traveled a long distance to spend time with a loved one?  I'd love to hear about it!