This morning I woke up to the sound of TWO girls giggling, it was literally a dream come true. Claire has just recently started to laugh out loud and it typically takes her a little while to be able to when she wakes up. It was the purest joy, to hear two sister cuddling in the morning and laughing about who knows what. I could listen to it every morning but tomorrow I won’t be home when they wake up. I will be in Virginia at a family conference for Rett Syndrome. As much as I am excited about the conference and all that will go on there, I feel homesick before even leaving.

Maybe it is because last week when Claire and I walked up to check our bag in Boston the friendly lady remarked, ‘Well that was a quick trip’ because we travel enough that they know us there now. The following morning I went to get coffee at a place that I used to frequent and I didn’t see a single familiar face. It was crushing to feel so foreign at home. We haven’t gotten to hit a rhythm with summer yet as we’ve been traveling, at appointments or preparing to travel. I feel like I’ve been everywhere but home. There hasn’t been a bon fire with friends, trips to the park or excessive amounts of time by the water and I miss all of that.

This will be the last leg of this crazy, we don’t go again until mid August. Still, four times to the East coast is a lot considering I had never been there prior to mid March this year. Despite being way past exhausted I am soaring. Soaring because I got to hear two girls laughing this morning and I don’t know that I would have heard that if it wasn’t for all this travel and stuff. I think about the other families out there, who will ache to hear their daughters giggle together and that is why I press on.

Today was the perfect reminder why I do this all. The pure giggles in the morning followed by a seizure, a dark purple face and a limp body and a brave little sister as we walked into the movie theater. There is still work to be done in Rettland and sometimes that involves travel. Soon I will be home, hopefully there will be more laughing and a little rest along with some fun with friends and I can’t wait.