Hello Again

Wow!  I absolutely can not believe it has been 30 days since I last posted.  I wish I could say there was a reason, but the truth is more boring, and wonderful, than that--I've just been busy, living in the moment, clinging to summer with everything I've got and still feeling like it's slipping through my fingertips.

I've lots of posts percolating around in my head, hopefully I'll get to them soon, I do think there's stuff worth saying up there, but for now, I'm just going to draw the proverbial line in the sand and start again.

Last week, we were in Hilton Head for vacation. 

Years and years ago, when I was pregnant with Rebekah, Mark told me he really didn't like that we didn't take an annual vacation.  Neither one of us had grown up doing that, and I guess I had it in my head that that was something "other people" got to do--rich people.  After he expressed how he felt though, we made it a priority and, except for the year Jason & Lori got married, we have taken a special annual vacation ever since.  Some years fancier than others, sometimes it's been Disney, sometimes it's been camping, but either way, we've always had a spectacular time.  I must say, for the most part, we do vacations well.

I think one thing that makes our vacation special is that it feels special.  We do things very differently on vacation than we do at home and surely that contributes to the awareness we all have that things have changed.  We don't do electronics, for the most part, on vacation.  There are no headphones, no endless texting.  Very minimal checking of voicemail, and then mainly Mark checking in once a day for work (what?  nothing's perfectly perfect.)  There are no video games, no tv, no laptops, it's just all family, all the time.  I love it!  We play games, we read, we talk, we act silly.  It's everything I always want vacation to be.  We always come home determined to hang on to those feelings, but unfortunately they always seem to fade once we're home for a short time.  Maybe one day we'll figure out how to hang on.  (Actually, I'm exploring giving up tv, not just cable, but all tv...we'll see.  Surprisingly to me, the savings aren't as big as I thought they'd be and now that I'm back in my electrical environment it makes me breath a little faster when I think about never being able to watch the news, check the weather during a severe storm, watch my shows...etc.  Our tvs are super old, so if we give up cable there's no getting a signal on any of them.)

Anyway.  Hilton Head.  

Mark's previous boss owns a condo there which he rents out to people he knows for a very affordable rate.  I love that even though he doesn't work at the same company anymore, he still allows us to rent it.  We had gone once before, four years ago, and when we were trying to figure out something special, but not too expensive to do this summer, we asked him if we could rent it again.  It's absolutely wonderful.  His wife's touches are everywhere, she's truly helped make it a very comfortable home away from home.  Incredibly sadly, she passed away four months ago very suddenly.  I was in the condo about 10 minutes when the sadness of it overwhelmed me and I cried.  They were a special couple, very together, very family oriented and I know it has rocked his world to lose her.  Life rarely makes sense, does it?

We wrestled for weeks about whether we were going to leave for vacation Friday, late afternoon and break the trip up into 2 parts or do it all in one day Saturday.  Finally, we decided it was worth it to spend the extra $$ and leave Friday.  I'm glad we did.  Once you're in vacation mode, the worries just ebb away.  We left around 4:00, perfect timing, we were in Athens by 6:00.  Athens is where Ohio U is, Rebekah was very excited to be back to her 'home away from home' for dinner.  After a delicious dinner (Big Mama's burritos and Bagel Street are hard to beat if you're visiting), we were back on the road.  We made it to Wytheville, VA, Friday night.  We would have liked to have gone farther, but there was a big accident that slowed things down for an hour or so.  For whatever reason (and we never could find out why), the first few hotels we checked out in Wytheville were full.  We ended up at a Ramada, if you're ever looking for a place to stay in Wytheville--keep looking.  Gross!  Nothing like a mildewed bathroom for a weary traveler!


Saturday we were on our way bright and early.  We stopped for lunch at Cracker Barrel (I always want to apologize somehow when I say this), I love Cracker Barrel!  I don't like a lot of chains, but there's something about when you're traveling and knowing wherever you are you'll encounter the same thing there.  We all enjoyed our lunch, the kids always get a treat when we leave, it was a very relaxing way to continue our journey, definitely welcome after the hotel.  We got to the condo early evening Saturday and headed right for the beach.


There is something so soothing for me about the ocean.  It literally calms my soul.


Pretty sure this is long enough for now, I'll call it part one and promise to be back soon with more.  


How about you?  Do you do a family vacation every year?  Is vacation different for you or is your life pretty much the same wherever you are?