So as I sit down to write this, I am realizing there are two paths here. Do I just sugar coat everything? Nahhhhhh. What fun would that be? So I’ll venture down both paths…. but really I can sum everything up with the statement “There’s no place like home”.

I can whine about what it was like to be with three kids, two of them sick, for a week by myself. I could tell you about how the US government wouldn’t give my younger two passports because they said I didn’t have the correct document and we had to “scramble” to get all that done before we left the country— me directing my husband in Washington while I was in Florida with the kids. I could talk about how different Fourth of July is in Florida and how I will NEVER go to fireworks in Florida again unless I am on a boat. Because 10K bodies crammed into a block party with no breeze and 89 degree heat at sunset? Not so great. Especially if the Margaritas are too sweet and don’t have any salt! We could talk about stomach viruses, and children puking not once, but twice. We could talk about Florida heat, Cozumel heat and how after 16 days from home I was so ready to come home. I was looking forward to it. Does this mean I am getting old and don’t have the stomach to travel anymore? I could talk about how it went through my mind, at least three dozen times how “vacation” is really a misnomer for moms. I could talk about how we didn’t list some jewelry on our customs declaration form and they caught us and I wondered if my kids would get to see me hauled away in handcuffs. (We didn’t, we were still under our family limit). I could talk about how overtired my kids are and how we didn’t get in till 4am Eastern time last night.

Or I could focus on the positive… time alone with my family. A beautiful tanzanite and diamond trillion earrings and pendent my husband bought me for our 15th wedding anniversary. The joy I felt the day my husband joined us in Florida. The peace of snorkeling in the carribbean. How awesome it is to sit in the ocean, sun beating down on you and your toes sinking into soft sand. Pure bliss! I can focus on the beautiful wedding and the happiness of my cousin who got married. I can remember the enjoyment of sitting on the back porch with a glass of wine while Hurricane Dennis touched us with his fury and just savoring the power of it all. I can focus on midnight swims, my sister’s beautiful new house, getting to see family from Colorado and New Jersey I don’t get to see too often. I can focus on a wonderful prime rib and lobster tail dinner, a wonderful soufflé, and the fact I came home and still lost three pounds! I can focus on the fact that really the seas weren’t too rough with Hurricane Emily and God did answer prayers and we never got sea sick. I can thank my lucky stars that our plane was only delayed a half hour last night… because it could have been so much worse.

I have awesome pictures to share. It’s good to be home.

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