September 19; Day Nineteen

Today was the last sunrise walk on the beach. We walked up and down for two hours. We didn’t want to leave.

We finally went back to the condo, cleaned up and packed. We took the keys to the rental office, picked up some ice and snacks for the road trip back. Then we stopped one more time at the beach. The girls brought home a little bit of the sand. As we were headed back to the car, Liz turned back again and again, and went and dipped her feet in one more time. My heart was wrenching. Jessica and I both teared up.

The trip home was long. We ran into rain and road work. We ate Oreos as comfort food.

So ended an amazing vacation. The best one I have ever had. Maybe with this ending, it is possible the seed has been planted for a new adventure.

September 13; Day Thirteen

We made it here around 10:45 p.m. Left the house a couple of hours later than planned. Twice we got part way down the road and discovered we forgot something. The last thing we forgot was the blanket that Jessica packed all the yarn for, but forgot the blanket she had been crocheting. For some reason, Liz and I found this extremely funny.

We finally got on the highway about 3:30. About 4:30 we hit rain. It rained off and on up until about the last hour. At one point the rain was so hard, all the cars had their flashers on and we were driving about 30 mph. One area we were driving it wasn’t raining on us, but we could see clouds and rain all around and it was dark because of the time. One huge thundercloud in the distance was putting on an incredible light show inside the cloud. I could only glance over for a moment, but Jessica was enthralled with it. She tried to video it, but to no avail.

Road trips are always a lot of fun with the girls. We talk, we point out things; we listen to music. The best part about the music is Jessica has a wide variety on her ipod. The girls pass the ipod back and forth, each picking a song. We listened to music from Louie Armstrong to the Muppets to ZZTop. Pretty much anything in between.

We brought a week’s worth of food. This place has a full sized kitchen. It costs a lot to eat out; besides, we are vegan and eating out limits what we have to choose from. We like our own food. We pulled over to get gas, and Liz reaches into the cooler to get…..hummus. Stereotypical vegan food. She starts cracking up because to get to the hummus she had to move the fresh broccoli and corn. Who brings this kind of food on vacation?? Apparently, we do.

A little further down the road, we stop at a rest stop. Jessica and I step in to relieve ourselves and Liz stays outside to rescue the 20-30 beetles that are slowly drowning in a large puddle from the rain. A lady came out and said she wondered what Liz was doing. When her friend came out, she told her to be careful not to step on the beetles that Liz just saved from downing.

Believe it or not, we did not take an extra adventure, aka get lost, on our way down. We came straight here. The condo is on the third floor. Fortunately, there is an elevator because it took us three trips to bring all our stuff in. We are about to eat dinner. Yes, it is after midnight.

This place is amazing. I may not make it to the beach for the sunrise tomorrow. The bed is very, very comfortable. I might actually sleep well this week.

More tomorrow.

September 12; Day Twelve

We leave for St. Augustine, Florida tomorrow. I still can’t believe we are actually going to do this. Thinking about it today on the way home, I realized that this is my first vacation. “My” is the word to focus on. The first time that I will not be on any one else’s time table. The girls will be with me, but we groove together quite well. 

I’ve been praying and giving thanks all over the place. I found a nice gated resort condo with three bedrooms, two baths, and washer/dryer. All within walking distance of the beach.  I found a wonderful company that will take care of my pets. The girls and I met the lady who will be taking care of them and we like her very much. I’ve had the van readied for the trip by a trusted auto shop. Filled the gas tank this evening.

I’ll be packing in the morning before leaving in the afternoon. Jessica has been preparing extra food all week so we won’t have to do much cooking when we are there. Liz has taken care of cleaning the house. She is also writing all the information for the pet care taker. She and I measured out the animal food into freezer containers to make it simple.

Jessica and Liz purchased new beach towels and I borrowed some beach chairs. Oh, I will need to pick up some sunscreen tomorrow. I will take my camera and books. I plan on reading, sleeping, writing, thinking, sleeping some more. There is a pirate museum I want to visit; an old fort or two; and the old town trolley tour. Mostly, though, I want to sit and look out over the ocean. I want to be on the beach when the sun rises each morning. I want to stroll on the beach under the moonlight. I may even get to walk on the beach in the rain.

Tomorrow, hopefully, I will be writing this blog while sitting on the screened-in balcony on the third floor, hearing the waves of the ocean.

I can’t wait!

September 7; Day Seven

I actually feel pretty good today. I’ve had a little more energy than usual. I got up and read a short devotional with scripture; scrolled through facebook; worked on that never-ending accounting project. No stress morning.

Jessica and I have been discussing cleaning the garage. We know it will be a multi-day task, so we set a timer to work for an hour. We were rolling along and making good progress when the timer went off. We decided to work a bit more. We reached the goal we set for today; Liz came out and started getting the van ready for the road trip. Jessica and I reached our stopping point and I went to help Liz with the van; Jessica found the coolers and a few other beach items.

The weather forecasted 40-50% chance of rain. A couple of weeks ago we went kayaking with the same forecast and there was hardly a cloud in the sky. Today, it was sunny so I decided to bug spray again outside. It rained the last time and washed it all away. Within half an hour of spraying, the clouds rolled in, the sky opened up and poured for an hour. Rained so much a flash flood watch was issued. The sun is out now and there is a double rainbow in the eastern sky. 

Complete change of subject. In looking through quotes on Pinterest the other day, I came across one that keeps rolling around in my head: “There’s a difference between who we love, who we settle with, and who we are meant for.”  I completely understand this quote. I think this describes some of the romantic relationships I have been in. I have loved but knew there was something not quite right. I have even started thinking there is something wrong with me that I don’t stay in relationships. Well, that still may be the case, but I think that quote is right on target. I knew that even though we cared deeply for each other we were not meant for each other. Could be that I am not meant to have that kind of relationship. To be honest, I am okay with that. 

Sigh. Life goes on. One week from today I will be writing this blog from a balcony over looking the ocean. I cannot even describe how much I am looking forward to that.

Thanks for reading. Till tomorrow…