A trip to Prince Edward Island

Imagine the joy of sharing your favourite novel with your children,

something you looked forward to doing with them before they were even born.

Imagine that they loved that novel themselves, and request to listen to the audio version time and time again at bed time.

Imagine telling your children that they would get to see Green Gables in real life this summer, and their starry-eyed wondering and planning began immediately, months before the trip would take place.

Imagine the immense delight of watching your oldest child, whom you sometimes worry is growing up too fast, skipping along the path towards Green Gables, singing over and over, "I am so excited! I am so excited!"

Imagine watching your sons take in the view of the harbour in Charlottetown, and you somehow see them  simultaneously as toddlers, in their current ages, and as teenagers and beyond. 

They are wonderfully young and yet mysteriously maturing, and each stage is so satisfying in it's own way.

Imagine going on an actual Field Day with Miss Stacy through the grounds of Green Gables, and trying to decide who was more in awe, the children or you.

And imagine that Anne herself joined you on that Field Day. 

When Miss Stacy commented that dandelions are edible, your silly-sweet son grabs one, and enthusiastically eats it, to Miss Stacy's horror and Anne's laughter anD delight.

Each child will suddenly wonder whether Anne is "just" a character in a book, after all.

Imagine the delight in having your daughter tell you she wants to BE Anne of Green Gables when she grows up.

And imagine your own satisfaction in learning that Lucy Maude Montgomery was your exact age when she published your very own favourite novel.

Your hopes and dreams of one day being a "real" writer may not that be far off, and perhaps, just possibly, waiting years and years into adulthood to getting your chance maybe seasoning your craft with more wisdom and maturity than if you had launched into it in your early twenties.

*****

Our trip to Green Gables will forever be in my heart as one of the most happy days in our family life, perhaps because it was so entirely simple. Just a tour of an old house and some gardens with a few people in period costumes wondering around. But it captured everyone's imagination in such joyful ways.

On the way towards Confederation Bridge, as we were leaving to go to Nova Scotia to see our family, I was playing some praise and worship music on our phone, specifically a song we sing over and over at Nazareth. The children recognized it and asked me to turn it up. Each one of them belted out each word so sincerely and sweetly that Patrick and I had to exchange that "look" that has become so familiar. That "look" that says, "I can't believe this is our beautiful life! And these amazing people are OURS!"

“'Dear old world', she murmured, 

'you are very lovely, and I am glad to be alive in you.'” 

Anne Shirley