Hodge Podge Beach Trip

OK, so follow closely. I am at the beach with my childhood friend whom I have known since I was 6, her two boys, her brother-in-law, his three children, my friend's childhood friend and her daughter and my husband and daughter. To do the math for you 7 children 5 adults.

How may you ask do this little conglomerate of people come about. Well, it started with my dear friend who has a great heart who doesn't like to admit it. She is thoughtful, kind and the strongest person I know and I am not just writing that because she is probably the only person who is going to read this. She made this trip possible and to her I give much thanks.

I have to admit I was a bit nervous about this vacation before leaving, wondering how all these personalities would mesh together. I thought maybe there would be too many people. That was not the case at all.

This trip has been very much what I needed. What did we do you ask? Nothing. We went to the beach every day. We sat and watched the waves come in. For future reading when I say we I don't necessarily mean all of us. We had Coleman's famous punch. (Yes all of us.) We watched J's favorite movie Twilight after some punch which made it seem a bit juvenile, or was it all along? The world may never know. We played Scrabble and I think Coleman realized he can actually spell better than he thought. The little girls had a miniature golf night out. Emily loved it. She even got a hole in one. In fact all the kids did. Em was on her best behavior and slept through the night. She took her first shower. She frolicked in the ocean until her heart was content. She and her Dad collected seashells all day. Coleman found the perfect shell with the shape of a heart.

All in all I could not have asked for a more restful peaceful vacation, but I did feel a beet guilty. I felt bad for having my husband there with me . As if I were flaunting my family in the face of others whose families were missing a piece of the puzzle. My eyes often welled up when I would look and see my friend alone on the beach when there should have been a seat next to hers. I often wondered what thoughts went through the minds of two little boys when they saw all the other Dads on the beach. Then, we would start to talk of T and although I didn't know him that well I would begin to get a glimpse of him. It was as if a part of him was there. It was as if he had brought us all together. I think in fact GOD did bring us all together. A wonderful vacation!!!