I Wish I Was There

Hey, there! Do you like the new look around here? I woke up silly excited about the new template on my blog. It's the little things in life, right?

I'd like to thank Kelsey at Kreated by Kelsey  I highly recommend her. I purchased this template in her Etsy store last night, and within minutes were working out the details. She was extremely helpful, uploading my blog header and 'About Me' section. I super appreciate that because coding is like Greek to me. Kelsey offers services ranging from pre-made blogger templates, to signatures, navigation bars, and custom blog design. She works quickly and is focused on making the customer happy - which I am! I still have a little tweaking to do (but am waiting for my 17year old daughter to come hold my hand). What do you think?

So here the southeast we got slammed with 17.1 inches of snow. I feel that the .1 may have pushed us all over the edge of hating snow. I was not meant to be a Canadian, or Alaskan, or even a Northern Hoosier, I think. Maybe I could learn to love the snow if I had:

• a snow plow
• a snow suit
• children who did not take my gloves ALL the time
• a mudroom

The boys want to play outside in the snow, of course, which is fun until they come in and take off their 97 layers of clothes. We don't own snow suits because 'it never snows where we live'. I just can never justify how expensive they are for just one or two days of snow and you can never find them at Goodwill. Now I'll be perpetually stuck in the should-I-shouldn't-I place when it comes to coveralls.

Anyway, the front hallway of the house is crowded with towels and boots and scarves and mittens and hats. Oh, spring, where art thou?

I'll think about it next October. For right now we are where we are. 

My eldest daughter and I were looking through my 1,981 pictures on my phone last night and found the beach ones from last summer. We looked out the back window and simultaneously said, "I wish we were at the beach."  At first I thought it would be cool if all that snow out there were sand, but then I realized that would be even worse to clean up than the snow. The pictures serve as evidence that sunny places do exist and that I have been to such places. I tend to start feeling like the snow is permanent and go into survival mode in the winter. Well, I lay in bed and think about what I would do in a post-apocolyptic world that was covered in snow. I don't actually do anything about it but I feel certain that I  would be proactive in the event of a real apocolypse. 

Or I would just lay in bed and wish I were at the beach.

We went to Dauphin Island, Alabama and I have to say I fell in love with the gulf. I wasn't so sure on the first night. We got to the house at about 9 o'clock and it was VERY dark. My darling husband insisted that we walk to the beach immediately rather than be sensible and wait till morning. So we trooped off with the four children and a flashlight that flickered at walked up a 42 foot sand dune. Once we reached the top we were rewarded with more sand. We could hear the ocean but its exact location eluded us. We continued walking in the direction of the surf sound despite the utter dark. We persevered through grass and bog and maybe a fight or two. I can only imagine what the people who were out crabbing thought of us 6 crabs who were not really speaking by the time they made it to the water's edge.

In the light of the day, though, I decided we had not made a wrong decision.

We woke early every day and rushed to the beach in fear that it would not be there. We claimed a spot on the beach as 'ours'. We found hermit crabs, shells, seaweed, and a dead shark. It was tiny, don't worry. Our first day out we were all a little timid, except of course for my husband, Lee, who is never timid. We hadn't been to the beach in 10 years and for the boys it was their first time in the ocean. I suppose I was the most reticent, waiting to get in until I was certain my children weren't going to drown or be drug away by a kraken.

By the end of the week, though, the ocean and I were good friends. I was even starting to have goofy thoughts about writing poetry equating the salt water to the amniotic fluid of my mother's womb. I stopped myself, though. You're welcome.

It truly was the Best Vacation Ever. The ocean reminded us that our little world is not all there is. The vastness of the water, the never-endingness of it, is comforting. (All beach pictures courtesy of Kiley Shepherd)


Now back to our regular scheduled programming:

My brother, Erik, refusing to let winter win. Photo courtesy of Julie Krieg. :)

 Remember, if mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!

Live life happy, friends.