Reentry

We returned yesterday afternoon from a glorious week at the beach. A week that I thought many times before we left was more trouble than it was worth, but knew all the time would be so totally worth it once we got there.

Worth it hardly conveys the beauty of the week. Gorgeous weather, family walks and bike rides, staying at the pool until we were too wrinkled and hungry to stay any longer, building entire cities out of sand, racing turtles, winning Bingo, and eating shrimp just to name a few.

I checked in here Sunday but then I even abandoned the computer, phone and for the most part television. We were a family together with nowhere to go but where we wanted and nothing to do but be together. Even the weather cooperated. It was lovely, so very, very lovely.

Come Friday night I got this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that we had to go home the next day. I did no early packing. I wanted the vacation to last as long as possible and even then...I did not want to come home.

It's not even the beach that's so appealing as much as what it does for me and my little family. We were relaxed. We were happy. We were together. We were at peace.

Life is too busy these days and although I love my life...I'm not liking it much. Know what I mean? It's a season, albeit a long one, but a season I'm sure will pass. As much as I wanted to do whatever it takes to escape to the beach forever, I knew that was impossible.

Last night and today we had several events that helped to bring me back to reality. They were good things, blessings in fact. If I was still at the beach, I would have missed them. That's something to hold on to. In fact, if I think back to just a few short years ago I might remember vacations that weren't so relaxing. They were harder because it just involved doing all the same work in a foreign location. Those were vacations when I actually counted down the days until we "got" to come home.

This vacation was a huge step in the right direction. It was a sign of progress. It was refreshing enough to make me buckle down, get to bed and be ready for the total reentry into reality tomorrow morning. And for that, I am grateful.