I’m a New Yorker. Even though I now live in the Midwest, I will always be a New Yorker. That means that I can’t leave my house unlocked when I go to a neighbor’s house, and I definitely can’t leave jewelry out on my dresser when I’m not home. And that over-protective nature includes going on vacation. So if you have been wondering why there hasn’t been a blog post for a few days, the cat’s now out of the bag – I’ve been on vacation and too scared to tell anyone for fear that someone would steal my kids, or worse yet, my collection of 80′s hairband records.
As for where I have been. Well, I’ve actually been to heaven for parents who leave their children for a few days. This heaven is called Cabo San Jose.
We stayed at an all-inclusive resort where as I walked in the front door, I believe I heard angels singing. You also had St. Peter (aka Michael, the bellman) hand you a Pina Colada upon check in and show you the beautiful word of swim up bars and endless snacking.
As if that wasn’t a sign you were in heaven yet, then you see the view. The view of the ocean. The view of the lounge chairs. The view of a place without any responsibilities.
Yes, I missed my children, but I’m ok saying that this trip was about being a grown up. About being with my husband and finally not hating dinnertime. We actually ate meals without rolling our eyes. We actually finished conversations. And we even read a magazine that didn’t have one spot of peanut butter and jelly on it.
And I wrote.
I woke up every morning with a cup of tea in my hand, the computer on a wicker table facing the ocean and I wrote. I wrote chapters of my book, I wrote posts for the future, and I wrote words to simply put in my journal so I can’t forget the peace I felt for a few days of staring out at the water.
Staring out of the water while also sipping rum concoctions every three hours and eating food that I can’t pronounce.
It was heaven.
And now I’m back. And it’s cold, and the kids are overtired and over stimulated.
But I smile. Because this chaos is what makes me appreciate that ocean view. And this chaos is my life. And in some weird way, when I look at the two kids lying on my chest as we watch Toy Story for the 10,000th time, I realize that heaven comes in many forms. From a cocktail on the beach with my husband, to the snores of little ones stealing my covers, I’m lucky to always be in one kind of heaven. And honestly, I’m happy to be back.
Of course, ask me that again in about 4 hours when they want to watch that damn movie again and I’m looking around for my cocktail waitress…
