Just Not Meant to Be

Vacation.

The word has become mythical around our home. Vacations are a time to get away from it all. Travel a little. Relax a lot. Recharge the batteries so day to day life is a bit easier.

Vacations around here have come to mean almost exactly the opposite. Of the last umpteen vacations we have planned for the past many years, we have not been on any. Various reasons. Too expensive. Too far to travel in too short a time. Something comes up with some family member somewhere. And the most popular, one or more of the four of us gets too sick to go.

So for Valentines weekend, we decided to play it safe. Vacate our home for a day or two, head to a local hotel with a pool for the kiddos. Take in some local fare. Nothing too pricey, and close enough to home so I could come back a couple of times to check in with the dogs. All of our family members are somewhat healthy, and nobody is expecting a visit from/visit to us.

Once again, other plans were made for us. I was at work the other night, feeling like a sore throat was coming on. Not just any sore throat, mind you. But one that said 'Hello! I'm being caused by that goop draining from your sinuses! I know it doesn't seem like there is too much there right now, but fear not! Soon there will be more earth toned glop draining from you than you'll care to see!'

I, naturally, did not want to welcome this old friend back again. So I firmly set my resolve to just being healthy and ignoring the illness. Sometimes that works. Really! And I was not going to endanger our fun weekend out with a piddly little sinus cold.

Then the Wife called. Apparently Cupid had visited early, leaving something pink for my little Sweet Pea. No, no. Not a candy heart saying "Be Mine" more like something pink for her eye. Or more specifically, both eyes. This, of course, effectively cancelled vacation plan number I-don't-even-keep-track-anymore.

When I got home, my beautiful little girl greeted me with a bright smile and a happy "Hiii Daya!" and two rings of puffy pinkness swelling around her beautiful, but bloodshot blue eyes. Within the hour, my sinuses had succumbed to green/brown/yellowish puddles. Later that day, the Wife developed a sore throat, and that night, the Boyo coughed himself to sleep. Welcome to the weekend.

So the Wife and I have been having serious talks about just erasing the word vacation from our vocabulary completely. Any trips in the future will have to be business related or spontaneous. And I mean "Throw a change of clothes in the car kids, we're going to Omaha!" Spontaneous. Because, Yes, the neater or more fun the vacation sounds as we plan it, the worse the illness/price hikes/danger to a family member becomes.

Fortunately, the back wall is finished. When spring arrives, I'm setting up camp back there, and maybe even building a little hotel room as well. If we can't escape the property, maybe we can just escape the house. Our backyard will become our vacation destination. You all can visit too. It may just be the only way we get to see you!

More Later