Beach Bound

Saturday we leave for the beach. I've found that no matter how much advance prep I do, there is always a longer list of things that have to be done the day before. I don't look forward to this. Only moms understand how much work it is to relax.

Of course there's all that work to get there and then all the work of unpacking when you arrive. We vacation with all of Nelson's family. There are a lot of us and it will be noisy and messy. The quarters are nice but when you have a family of six assigned to one little bedroom, you don't exactly leap for joy. The kids are getting bigger every year and when everyone is finally asleep, you can't put your feet on the floor without stepping on someone. Last year I actually panicked that I lost one when I found Dawson sleeping under our bed. I mentioned to Nelson that it might be good for us to get two rooms next time. He reminded me that that decision would double the price of the vacation for us. Squished we shall be.

On the other side there is a whole week in front of us with nothing to do but sit by the pool and lay on the beach. We have days to play with cousins and spend time with family we don't see often enough. We have nights full of stories and competitive matches of Taboo. There are meals shared and crosswords done. There are sandcastles to be built and wave jumping to be done. If I'm lucky, I may even get to read a book.

Suddenly the cramped quarters don't seem so bad. Let's face it, with thirty or so people around, not much sleeping gets done anyway. The memories, the smiles, the time away...these are the things that make all this work totally worth it.

One more day, then look out beach, here we come.