Friends...
Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 09:37AM I'm up early today - anything before 8 in the summer is early for me. My husband has a job about two hours north and he's taking our boys along with him. They woke me at 5:45. They didn't say anything, they just stood by the bed in a side-by-side line, smiling. After I blinked away the sleep, I could see they were all wearing shirts with the logo of my husband's company displayed on the front. They looked so proud, the three of them. I'm not sure where they found it, but our youngest son was wearing a shirt that was at least four sizes too small. It covered half of his upper torso, which works for him, he has great abs. It had the logo, which is obviously all that my husband cared about. Our other son apparently trusts my husband implicitly, because he was wearing a woman's blouse. A shirt that my husband had previously gotten for me (I've never worn it). I did hear our son mention something about the buttons being on the wrong side as they were leaving the room. It had the logo.
Now, it's just the girls and me. They are still sleeping and this can go on for most of the morning, which may not be a bad thing today. We're leaving for vacation in the morning and I was supposed to have everything packed by last night. That was the goal. Usually, I am very goal oriented and focused. A typical first born. Yesterday, not so much. This morning, with the boys gone - it's so quiet - and with the girls asleep, I'm thinking I can get the last suitcase packed.
Everyone is so excited to be going. We're headed to the beach, to our favorite resort and we're going with dear friends. I am a little nervous about the latter. We've never actually vacationed WITH another family. Our family can be savages at times and we are loud when we're all together. But I do think, for our first joint vacation, this is the perfect family to go with. My girlfriend is a teacher. She's seen everything. When our children abandon their silverware and start eating with their fingers, she won't be alarmed. When our youngest son blows his nose cowboy style, without a tissue, she won't be shocked. And, when all 7 kids are bouncing off the walls, she will have a quiet classroom game that everyone can play. I'm going to watch and learn from the best. Her husband is a fireman. I've always liked firemen. My husband knows this and he's accepted it. Luckily for me, he likes this fireman as much as I do. Having your own fireman along with you on vacation pretty much covers most catastrophes and accidents. He's calm, cool and I'm confident he can handle any small mishap that our crew might encounter.
Our friends, on the other hand, are definitely getting the short end of the stick, traveling with the stay-at-home-mom and the contractor. I can wipe everyone's faces and bake a cake while my husband bosses everyone around. How useful are we going to be in a crisis? Now, the teacher and the fireman - I think that's got to be a really resourceful union. Together, they can handle just about anything that kids can throw at them. I know that we will vacation a lot more easily knowing that we are with such capable friends.
We miss our friends. They moved away several years ago and we only get the chance to see each other once or twice a year. They are fabulous people. We are so looking forward to several days of good conversation, fellowship, story telling, soul searching and laughter. I miss their three beautiful boys and I'm sure that our kids miss them more. These are friends who know us, from the inside out, and still like us. These are friends!
Reader Comments (2)
Yes, we are friends. Eating with fingers, that's called "chow time." Blowing your nose into the ground while holding the other nostril, that's a "desert blow." By the way, is there something wrong with this? Just another day at our house. We are excited and very much looking forward to catching up. As the certified travel nazi, we will be on the road at 7am and having lunch at Mc P's Irish Pub by 1 pm. After that, the travel nazi hat comes off and I don't care.
I'm afraid 7:00 is a bit ambitious for us. We don't have a resident travel Nazi. Drive safely - we'll see you there.