After being rained out of Blacksburg, we drove to Smith Mountain Lake in Franklin County. I grew up in Franklin County. It’s rural, southern, and as the Ambassador of Franklin County, I’m here to tell you it’s one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Tom’s parents have a place on Smith Mountain Lake. They decided to buy land in Franklin County because it is one of the most beautiful places on earth.

We spent the rest of the weekend at their house on the lake with some of my best friends from college.

This is Daniel. He has his mommy’s eyes and his daddy’s love for watching videos on the Internet.

He said “Amanda” on his first try. No kid ever does that.

He can run and count to 20 and eat food that needs to be chewed. It’s especially baffling because he and David will go to kindergarten the same year, and David’s still screaming and dragging his body around the room.

But now he knows how to play catch. Candace taught him.

It’s his favorite game. Since the weekend, we’ve played at least 8 times a day.

This weekend was different than any other weekend I’ve spent with these friends.

Instead of staying up until 3 a.m. talking and eating graham crackers slathered in icing, our weary bodies collapsed in bed sometime after 11 p.m.

We were all up and showered around 6 a.m. Our big, lazy breakfast was served by 8 a.m. We spent the morning changing diapers and filling up sippy cups.

Candace described this as our first “family” trip. I’ve been on more than 10 years of road trips with these girls. We’ve been to Canada, the Caribbean, Pennsylvania, Florida, Australia, and Virginia Beach.

Now there are significant others and baby boys in the mix. We used to all sleep in the same bed; it’s easier to talk into the wee hours of the night that way. Now we can’t even pile in the same car because they’re full of car seats and Pack ‘N Plays.

When I said that going back to Blacksburg feels like going to my old house but my family doesn’t live there anymore, this is the family I’m talking about.

These girls make any place feel like home wherever I go.

And I promise I didn’t mean to wear the exact same shirt as David. I know it doesn’t seem possible to accidentally dress yourself and your baby in identical neon green-striped shirts, but that is what happened.

Meanwhile, I’m pretty sure Candace and Winston’s matching green shirts were intentional.

Some things never change.

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