Why I have a special place in my heart for our driveway.

My family is big on traditions and get-togethers. We plan a lot, schedule many things, but we have often found that spontaneity provides some of our favorite moments. Don’t laugh, but some of our favorite family moments have been on our driveway. That’s right… the place where you park the cars.

It’s the place where neighbor kids stop by to see what yours are doing…

It’s the place where spontaneous dinners with your neighbors come together because they’re walking by with their dogs while you’re working in the garage or mowing the lawn…

But one of my favorite moments that The Driveway unexpectedly gave us, is when Handsome Hubby started a conversation with the boys about the fishing. We were a few months away from a lake vacation and he was getting them excited about the opportunity they would have to go out on a boat and fish.

They needed a hands on demonstration…. HH set them up on the driveway with toy fishing rods, a blow up pool and let them practice casting.

HH and I sat in lawn chairs with glasses of wine, watched the boys practice casting with their Scooby Doo fishing poles, and had one of those rare opportunities where you are able to recognize a special moment as it happens.

So often in our lives we have the expectation that the most special of our days will be announced with some sort of fanfare: a big party, a wedding, a holiday…. In reality, I think the times we are able to look back and say “That? Now that was a great day!” are the times where our everyday lives as a family go from the mundane to the quietly extraordinary.