Vacation???

I know, I know ... this was supposed to be the blog where I described my lack of construction skills after hacking a hole in the side of the house while putting in a dog door.  Well, suffice it to say that I butchered that project pretty darn good but we've recovered and Sheila has elected to keep me around a bit longer (but she has hidden all saws and other weapons of house destruction) (in fairness, it's not like I didn't pre-warn her) (full disclosure, I hid behind Madison through it all, using her as a cuteness shield)

But I just had to tell you about our Thanksgiving weekend vacation to Miramar Beach in Destin Florida (that's one of a billion beautiful sunsets in Destin, above). Sheila and her family do an annual pilgrimage to Destin every September but this year her daughter & family chose to also spend a month surrounding Thanksgiving at the beach (no, they don't call it "down the shore" like in Jersey) (it's the at beach, not down the shore). They can do that because the kids are home schooled and they work from a home-based business ... sweet deal when you can do it from the shore ... err, umm, beach.

First, I didn't think of it as a vacation, just thought I was spending a couple of days at the shore ... sorry, beach ... but I'll be damned if it didn't instantly start to feel like a vacation as soon as I got there. First thing after we put our suitcases into the bedroom of a gorgeous townhouse, Sheila and I were on the beach getting our picture taken by her grandson, Carter (quite a good photographer at the tender age of 12!!).  Here we are ...

Thanksgiving Day, James (Sheila's SIL) picked up a great (really, it was great!) full dinner from Cracker Barrel with turkey, ham and all of the usual stuff including cranberries and mac & cheese ... more than enough to feed 7 vacationing faces with leftovers a-plenty. We ate dinner on the balcony of this beautiful townhouse right on the beach in a balmy 74 degree wonderful day in Florida. Not to bore you to tears with family pics, but here we are ...  that's Shauna, James, Carter, Hudson, Audrey & Sheila ... BTW, check out my University of Georgia shirt (NOT Georgia State University, apparently some little joint that has no football clout), I'm blending in with the locals and fully expect to be speaking with a drawl pretty darn soon (assuming I can get my colleges straightened out; it was easy in Jersey ... Rutgers ...) ....

And wham ... I was on vacation! Relaxing, eating out, swimming (yup, swimming in November, definitely NOT the Jersey Shore) and generally doing nothing but relaxing. Of course, I didn't realize that I was on vacation until Sheila asked me "Are you enjoying your vacation?" ... Vacation??  I thought we were here for dinner! And that's the difference between Georgia and Jersey, these people know how to relax and really enjoy themselves even if it means a 6 hour drive for a Cracker Barrel turkey dinner on a beach in Florida with some old nut from New Jersey. Honestly, the long weekend couldn't have been any nicer in any way, except for maybe having Laura & Lord (my daughter and her sig other, for those not paying strict attention to this drivel I post every couple of weeks) join us. We're thinking maybe the next time we can get them to join us, that would be nice.

You ever wonder what it would be like to just start over again? Come on, admit it, I know you do think about it, or at least you have thought about it at some point ... just chuck it all to the side and start over, no messing around with the old junk, no worrying about the "what if's" or the "how about's" of your current crap storm of a life. Just let it go and start over? I know that a lot of you would like to do it, and I am doing it right now. And I have to say ... it feels good, really good. And I have to thank this pretty lady for playing a gigantic part in this revitalization ...