The last full day of vacation, with tomorrow just the drive home.

We slept deeply last night, full of birthday cake and sunshine. 

I was the first awake, Until I woke my little man with a kiss on his cute button nose 

We enjoyed fleeting family time over breakfast and coffee, saying goodbye to the past

I hugged and waved to the last of my brothers, following shortly after on our own way home.

A brief trip, but a chance to see so many people who I don’t talk to nearly enough. 

Every time I see them, 

I find myself wondering 

why 

we don’t do it more often,

And then life gets in the way again, and another year has gone by.

We make promises to see each other 

soon, 

always,

And mean them

But Ars longa, vita brevis

keeps repeating through my head the last few days

Art is long, life short

We work diligently at our art, sometimes

often

at the expense of our human

connection.

Never has this been more true since the advent of social media.

 I have so many people I can talk to at the press of a button, but find the distance between us even further than it was twenty years ago. 

The mindfulness has vanished,

Replaced by a quick text, 

or a thumbs up.

As I watch the kids play at the campground, 

fast friends with children they didn’t know twenty minutes before and won’t know tomorrow

I promise to myself

Call my loved ones

Make time to connect outside of Facebook, social media and the hollow world of the internet 

Life is short.

I want to make the connections,

Water them, 

grow them as tall as the hollyhocks in front of my parent’s house 

They will grow more beautiful with fragrance in time

And provide a treasure that will last forever