As I sat writing all the family birthdays in my new Greece calendar, filled with cerulean seas, cobalt domes and whitewashed walls, I realized that the countdown to nights away from home has begun! It’s 15! I know some people have to travel for work, and they don’t love it, but I work/live/breathe/sleep/teach in the same four walls day in and day out. No mistaking it, I love it… but time away from home brings joy to my globetrotting soul. I have imagined that the perfect job for me would be to travel the world and write reviews of far off lands for future vacationers.
There is a night coming this month… only one night.. but still, I look forward to it with my hubby. The first of March there are four glorious days marked on the calendar for Scrapping in the Pines with my girlfriends. It is supposedly a scrapbooking retreat… but less and less scrapbooking is accomplished as the years go by. It should probably be renamed Being Lazy in the Pines…. THAT is a true holiday….. no kids, no cooking, no bedtime, no cleaning, no agenda (other than posted mealtimes)… no wonder it calls my name every six months! Last September we watched 8 or 9 movies! Couch Potatoes unite! It was sublime.
Rick and I endured one of those time-share sales pitches to “win” a free cruise… with some strings attached, of course. But the strings are cheap cheap cheap for the eight-day trip. I like bunk beds! We are awaiting to see if it will be the Western Caribbean in March or Alaska in June. I’m REALLY hoping for white beaches and not white whales…. but alas, it is also my husband’s 25th wedding anniversary… so I was the nice wife (not the crabby wife) and let him choose one destination. He’s a true Canadian with ice in his veins.
Our annual trip to Lake Tahoe has moved to August this year…. which is fantastic for us living in Phoenix, right next door to hell in the summer. And our son, who is cycling again after the broken arm the week before Christmas, has a couple of races that may require over-night stays… can you see how high my hand is raised to volunteer to escort him??? I feel some mother-son bonding around the corner. I’ll wear whatever t-shirt they want me to!
So, school drudgery is laid to rest each time I peer at the highlighted days in my purse daytimer. By the end of February the kids will be wondering why I keep taking the daytimer into the bathroom so often. It’s my own version of Calgon.
My Sister's Jar 