Capturing the Enormity

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota – It has been the perfect final harbor for our long journey, this stop here among our family in Minneapolis. It has been the ideal mix of sleeping in, quiet book reading on the couch, long talks, eating at fantastic restaurants, and playing with the kids and just watching the kids play together. All with the same sense of comfortableness and ease of self that only comes among family or the very best of friends – or most especially when it is both, as here.

Angie and Brett have taken a bold path, recently moving here from Texas where they have lived for most of their 15 years of marriage. Brett has been given an amazing job opportunity here, but as with any new job pursuit it has its share of uncertainty. I admire their dedication to keep their family first -- and together -- even amidst the angst of new pursuits in new places.

We have come to visit in the midst of their transition. While looking to buy a house they have rented a townhome for a few months. Despite its transitory nature, Angie has done a remarkable job of transforming brick and mortar into a real home, as well as a place of love and safety for her kids. Marley and I did the same thing when we moved to Ohio, renting a duplex during our few months of house hunting, but never achieved the level of settledness that Angie and Brett have found here in far less time.

Yesterday, we made our obligatory pilgrimage to the Mall of America. If you come to Minneapolis, you go to MOA. It’s like Cairo and the Pyramids or New York City and the Statue of Liberty or Munich and Oktoberfest, if you happen to be there, you know, in October, or, as the case may be, November, which inexplicably is when it happens that most of Oktoberfest occurs.

At any rate, I was prepared for a big mall, worthy of its name. I was not, however, prepared for what I have since learned is listed among the "1000 places everyone should go before their die." Simply put, the Mall of America is more than just a really, really big mall. In its center is an amusement park. I knew there would be rides, even a “roller coaster,” but this is a real amusement park. There are in fact two roller coasters, a log ride, a climbing wall, a three-story Ferris Wheel and slew of other gut-turning, head-spinning, scream-inducing thrill fests. All of this, mind you, is inside the mall.

Inside.

With air conditioning. That alone was worth the price of admission.

The mall itself is four stories up with all the usual assortment of stores, eateries and movieplexes, except there’s more than 500 of them. There’s also an aquarium, a police department – not just a little office, but a real PD – a post office, a wedding chapel, the coolest collection of Lego creations I have ever seen, a church, a university campus. I’m pretty sure there’s an airport in there somewhere, as well. To say that the Mall of America is big is like saying this roadtrip has been long – it doesn’t quite capture the enormity of it.

As impressive as it was and as much fun as the kids had the best part of our visit here has been in the simple moments – a quiet dinner with Brett and Angie Friday, sitting around the living room talking together late into the night yesterday, a late breakfast in PJs this morning even as I write this. All laced with the subtle, irreplaceable quality of time spent together, sharing hearts and stories and moments.

Indeed, I find it amazing that after having known Brett and Angie for 15 years now that there are basic stories that I have not heard yet – like how they met and feel in love while they were in college. I got to hear that story last night at dinner and was touched. Later as Brett and I drove in his car together, he shared more of how thankful he was the cookies that he and Angie had made that fateful day provided the perfect excuse to come get to know this beautiful girl who had caught his eye. I can tell he is still thankful.

We begin the last leg of our journey home this afternoon. Google Maps tells me we have 688 miles between this home and our own. “About 11 hours and 22 minutes,” it reads.

It seems such a drop in the bucket considering the time and distance we’ve traveled so far and yet I know the last few hours are always the longest. We’ll make whatever distance we can today and then finish this most excellent of roadtrips, we hope, by the end of the day Monday.

It will be good to be home. Indeed, like saying the Mall of American is big, saying that it will be good to be home doesn’t quite capture the enormity of it.