My son called the other day and as we were talking, another call came in and there was that little bleep that cuts through.  So, here’s what I heard: “Mom, Li—- and I are going to Sc—-nd and we want –you –us.”

“I’m sorry, can you say that again?”

(Slower, more deliberately.) “Mom.  Liisa and I are going to Scotland in September.  We want you to come with us.”

What followed was a full ten minutes of me alternating between sobbing and hyperventilation with an occaissional “Wha…? Wh..?”

There are not words enough to describe the feelings of joy and love and excitement that were swirling through every fiber of my being.

Having gotten through all of that (though the feelings still swirl), we are in the very beginning stages of planning the trip.  I’ll be making notes about it here, and of course writing about the trip itself.  It will be my third time to Scotland, Kyle’s second, and Liisa’s first.  Three great viewpoints from which to make it a grand time for all of us.

At this point, we do know that Kyle is dedicated to climbing all 246 stairs of the Wallace Memorial, but he’ll only have to climb 71 of them to see Wallace’s sword.  When he and I were there in 2005, it had just that day been taken away to New York City for the Tartan Day celebrations. I have seen the Honours at Edinburgh Castle, and know that they will both want to see them and the Stone of Scone.  Orkney is a strong possibility.  And we will certainly go to see our various plots of land in Glencoe.  I am excited that we will once again be staying at Greenlawns in Nairn (owned and lovingly operated by my friend, Sheelagh: http://www.greenlawns.uk.com/ ) Clava Cairns is a certainty.

And, what else….?