Dream Along With Me!

Mandy's been gone since this past Wednesday -along with her boss-lady, Deb.

They flew out of Pittsburgh Thursday around 1 p.m., landing safely in Phoenix where her Dad met her at the airport to transport her to his place in Laughlin, Nevada where she will be until tomorrow -Monday -at which time, her stepmother will drive her down to Phoenix to meet up with Deb and her friends and then, Tuesday, they will depart for points east -like Pittsburgh!

I'm really glad Mandy had this opportunity to get out to see her Dad again and to roam around Laughlin, meet up with a lady she's been communicating with online too for the past 7-8 years now. She deserves the chance to see her Dad (so do the two other kids too for that matter) much more than she (or they) can simply due to the distance involved.

All three of my kids now have a pretty solid relationship too with their Dad although, if someone had told me about 12-20 years ago that this would ever take place, I probably would have laughed in their face.

It was a long time coming, a hard time to restore the relationship that had been severed between the kids and their Dad over the years following our divorce. And I am really and truly very relieved, very, very happy, that it all came about for them to have rebuilt this on what was back then a very rocky foundation.

But, tonight -after having spent a great two days with my older daughter and older grandson plus having had them plus my son, his girlfriend and her daughter here for supper tonight, I couldn't help but think about something else though too.

I really need a vacation!

Yeah, I do. I haven't had a real, bonafide vacation in so many years now, I don't think I can remember exactly when I did have one. Maybe back in 1983 when older daughter along with two friends of mine from the restaurant where I worked and I took a couple of days and escaped to Atlantic City, New Jersey. That may have been my last vacation I think.

Or it might have been the week I took in 1982 when the kids and I went to visit my best friend in Maryland, from there we went to Ohio, to Cedar Point and after that, drove out to Illinois to see their paternal grandparents. That might have been the last time I had a full week of "No work, just fun" vacation time so I do think I am very much overdue in that area, don't you?

I'd be happy going just about anywhere, as long as it is away for a little while from the normal every day doings here for a bit.

But here's something I'd really like to do though -and that's to get one of the units available through the Outer banks beach rentals< for a week -a full week, yes -and go there with my whole family and maybe even a few close friends too as a really terrific getaway.

Of course, to do something like that would take a great deal of planning -not just to coordinate when each of us could go someplace but also, how to acquire adequate funds too so that we could afford to do this too. (Hence, the idea of maybe a few close friends might be willing to go along with us too -lessen the cash outlay on each person involved that way, wouldn't it?)

But seriously, why not? I know a couple family groups around here who do just that every year. But then too, they also have bigger families than mine and a little sounder financial picture too, come to think of it. But still and all, I do think it's an idea that warrants taking a bigger, closer look at, ya know.

Or heck, maybe some of you -my blogger friends -might want to take a vacation somewhere on the east coast and with enough bloggers, we could easily fill one of these gorgeous beach homes and have a great time together, enjoying the sun, surf and summer fun, couldn't we?

Just some food for though in one of my crazy dreams but one that I think has a touch more probability that it could happen that my idea of going to Sweden some day.

As long as I can keep dreaming though, I'll be okay!