Sunday nights offer a neat perspective

Kaity Holtman

Saturday night, my family surprised my grandpa with a pizza party to celebrate his birthday.

Sunday night I enjoyed dinner and a fun evening with my husband’s family.

Now, this is a pretty typical weekend for us. We often get to see both families at some point every weekend. All of our siblings and parents live within 15 minutes of our home.

And I realize that I’m extra blessed in this way.

Most families have at least one sub-family who has moved somewhere at least a couple hours away. But we don’t.

See, while my husband, Matt, and I were in college and for a year or two afterwards, we were that family. We lived in Columbia during college and in the southern-most part of Kansas City after that.

And I wouldn’t have traded any of that for the world.

We had the best college experiences at the University of Missouri in Columbia. So much so, Columbia is a second home to us.

We grew up, found out who we are, made best friends and received incredibly high-quality educations, just to start the list, at Mizzou.

But there was one thing we always dreaded.

The Sunday night drive.

With three hours between here and Columbia, and two between here and our Raymore home in 2011-12, the Sunday night drive was always on our minds.

Because we have close-knit families, Sunday nights are often the perfect time for everyone to get together for a relaxing evening.

Needless to say, when steaks went on the grill at 6 p.m., it was always a struggle to pull ourselves away to hit the road.

As I sat in the recliner Sunday night, watching the kids play and talking with everyone, I reflected on how Matt and I promised one another we’d never take moments like this for granted.

It was right at three years ago this month that we moved home to Conception Junction. And I have no doubt there are moments we take for granted after that long.

But it seems to be in the simplest moments that we find ourselves the most grateful.

While we did grow as young adults, and even as a couple, through our six-hour round trips when we came home, and while we wouldn’t trade off those experiences for the world, we’re pretty sure we paid our behind-the-wheel dues.

And now, instead, we can be present for the moments we missed because we were driving to or from them.

Now I realize every family is different, not every family gets together as often as ours do. I know that jobs and convenience and interests will always be having people leaving home for somewhere else. And while I see so much value in living away from home for at least a few years, we’re happy with our situation and where we are right now.

We’re blessed to have found jobs nearby that have allowed us to move home. And we’ve found the reward of living in rural communities and investing our time in helping them thrive.

We can commit to serving a community because we’re settled in. Not driving constantly and afraid to say yes in case we need to leave early to get on the road.

This may not be the plan we had five or 10 years ago, but sometimes we figure out our plans along the way, don’t we?

I like the plans that we’ve come up with.

I get to watch my niece and nephew attempt to ride on my husband’s back at 8:30 on a Sunday night at his sister’s house, and then walk across the street to my own house and get ready for a new week.

Whatever our paths become, it’s always important to take time to reflect and appreciate the things we probably prayed to have at some point in the not-so-distant past.

It’s the Sunday-night perspective that keeps us growing and centered on the lives we hope to lead.