("behind" as in not caught up. I am not a chronic "behind" in the noun sense of the word.....at least I hope not..maybe I should ask my family to be sure) :-)
Lately I've felt like every waking hour is spent moving, teaching, emailing, working, thinking, doing...to the point of feeling like I'm accidentally missing parts of life in all the madness.
So. I've become more conscious of stopping for short little bursts throughout the day.
Taking the time to
look at the sky,
to water my mums a little slower,
to watch my kids.
Avery, Emma, and I ate our lunch on the side stoop Wednesday and walked around the neighborhood without.....
wait for it.....
WITHOUT my phone.
You heard it here first. I left my phone on the counter for a 30 minute walk out in the wild.
Though I did text Brad where I was going in the off-chance that someone kidnapped us or we succumbed to a wild dog. It was freeing and not at all dangerous.
Blogging has been an outlet for me, a place to get things off my chest, and a way to record a little of our life for the last 8 years or so. But...as this season would have it, I find myself at my computer less and less.
I have had books made out of a years worth of posts, but guess what?!
I'm like four years behind. Shocking, I know. Will get around to it. maybe.
So, here I am, about to recap our recent family trip to the beautiful Turks and Caicos Islands.
Emma kept saying we were going to England.
TCI being an English territory (God save the queen) was apparently very confusing for her.
Anyway, for what it's worth, I learned a few things.
-) Sometimes last minute plans are the very best plans.
-) A beach trip is the most...and possibly the only truly restful vacation there is.
you go
you sit
you read
you eat
you sit
you sleep
you swim
you smile
you eat
(unless you have little bitty ones, then everything is work no matter where you are...which is why when mine were little bitty, I happily stayed home...no trip could tempt me)
-) An all inclusive ( at least at Beaches Turks and Caicos) is pretty awesome. It exceeded my expectations in every possible way.
Being there in the off season definitely helped....the Walls don't care for crowds, so getting there only to find out that we were there at a time that the resort was only about 25% occupied was an unexpected bonus.
-) The people there who took care of us (mostly Islanders, Jamaicans, and Haitians) were incredible.
Lifeguards sang as they walked,
our server at Kimonos danced to the songs the chefs sang
"Roof", the chef at Neptunes, laughed with us as he prepared the best swordfish I've ever eaten
Malissa and I are now facebook friends. She's 17, is absolutely beautiful, smart, and attentive
The jovial security officer insisted that the girls sit on his four wheeler
The scuba instructor was built like Mr. Incredible
Their smiles were easy and I would like to go back just to people watch
Everyone there made us feel like we were at home. I don't know how they did it.
-) Almost 15 year old boys think they are big enough to just take off whenever they get the notion to, and roam the place like they owned it. They don't care if they miss all the photo ops, they prefer it that way, actually. I got to practice letting go a little. ...definitely was a learning experience.
-) Not having to carry beach towels was huge....considering that we used 5, 287 while we were there.
-) I saw a Mom in a pool chair, completely lost in her phone for at least 15 minutes.
Her little ones came up to her twice, and she barely looked up.
Her husband came over with a gentle appeal, "Honey, you've been on that phone forever."
She was a little disgusted as she put it away with a huff.
"I was just reading!" she said.
***DON'T BE THAT PERSON. ***
Whatever you are "reading" is so not worth it and you miss so much.
-) I could've left my big camera at home. I think I used it twice.
Make allowance for some sort of portable, quick, easy, waterproof way to take pictures if you are headed to a water-full getaway. Sometimes blurry 12 megapixels instead of "perfect" 18 megapixels is a better way to document a trip.
-) Snorkeling makes me sea sick. Can you believe that?! I tried for five minutes, thought I was going to loose my lunch, so I headed back to the boat to wait with the big islanders who were keeping an eye on the snorkelers.
Pathetic but true.
-) Wearing Orphan Aid Liberia shirts are great conversation starters. We had no less than 12 people ask us about them. One guy was from Liberia...so cool.
Spreading some LOVE. was fun.
-) Apparently diving is peaceful.
I wouldn't know because I didn't do it.
Jake and Brad are fans, though.
-) Reese had an orthodontic appliance malfunction that resulted in a HUGE ulcer and swollen cheek. Dr. Cline and his staff are awesome. We face timed and they walked Brad through how to fix it. Being in need of medical care and NOT being in the States is an unnerving situation.
We were able to scrounge up some Orajel and she was better in no time flat.
This was one thankful Mama.
-) I was under the impression that hurricanes never hit the Caribbean.
Yeah, well apparently, that's not true.
Was happy to be there and back before Matthew showed up.
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...and as I sit here, cozy in my bed, listening to Brad go over physical science with my 9th grader in the kitchen...
I am SO incredibly thankful I married a math/science guy.
because otherwise, my kids would be hosed in this department.
Thank you, Bradford.
~stacey
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