It Has Been Decided

My darlings, my dears.
How nice it has been to hear from you all again, and gratifying to know that people give a shit  - enough to tell me that they are glad I'm back anyway. Warms the cockles of my heart.

Speaking of cockles, my darling one and I have decided that we want to take an actual vacation when we have a few days off in November.

Lemme break down a "vacation" for when a northerner goes down south:

1. visit as many people as possible; rub bellies, kiss babies that didn't exist the last visit, assure favorite aunts that life really is ok "up there", show parents and siblings a years worth of lovin and missin in mere days

2. do six months worth of clothes, toothpaste, shampoo and liquor shopping. Seriously, I feel like a cartoon shopping "I'll have one of these, and one of these, and six of these, and these come in 3 colors you say?" I shop with a cart in the liquor store. What. Up.

3. find out everything missed out on. For example, when I went south in February of this year, I asked my sister about this Gangnam Style business. I thought it was a fashion choice.

 I only found out about Macklemore this past July.

5. Family stuff. This is super-sized once engaged, I have learned. Gotta cuddle with the kids, and view soccer games, and sing "Cups". Visit the elderly and sick, and remind them that they aren't forgotten. Family dinners, celebrations, and toasts, oh my!

6. Pray that the people you didn't get to see (which is always MOST people) still love you even though they haven't seen your raggety mug in 3 years.

So you see, even when it seems like I have endless time, it's all very slippery and it slithers away before you can imagine.

We had three weeks vacation this year, and of that, we had exactly one day that wasn't planned or otherwise taken. One day.


This November, it's gonna be about us, just me n he. We haven't decided where we are going yet, but it will be somewhere where there is no family (not that we don't love ya by's) or friends (not that you're not missed my dears). There's going to be no wedding planning, or invitation list talk. We may shop, but it won't be a frantic misadventure.

And you know what will happen? We'll probably sleep through the whole thing.