Life has been kind of crazy this last week and a half. We went to Vegas for vacation and all I got was this crazy head cold. Well that’s not completely true I came back with six rolls of film and a memory card full of pictures. Now you’re saying where are they, I know you are Fii – don’t deny it, I live in the boonies they are being developed.
So why did I go to Vegas, I’m not a big gambler? I went first for a reunion of the neighborhood I grew up in. And then Ducky had never been to… well anywhere. That’s not to say his family didn’t do things together, they camped a lot.
But traveled, not much. I, on the other hand, grew up in a family that traveled a bit for vacation. So over the years I have returned to some places of special memory and drug Ducky with me. On our honeymoon we laid on the beach at Balboa soaking up the rays, then took in the A’s and the Angels, his first major league baseball game. Then we spent a day at Disneyland, fulfilling a boyhood (and adulthood, I suspect) dream.
One trip we went to Frisco and spent a week seeing the sights, riding the cable cars, and venturing out the Alcatraz. The highlight (no joke) watching the fire department put out a fire on a pier – way kewl. His fear of flying kept him from going to England with me, so after 9 / 11 (which only increased his anxiety about planes) we drove to Reno, walked the boardwalks of Virginia City and cruised the streets of Tahoe and Carson City soaking in the history and sights. Another trip (really two) we drove to Seattle, took in two Mariners games, went to Pike Street, walked the waterfront, and drank coffee.
We have plans to take in spring training sometime; go to the Alamo and San Antonio another. Drive across Oregon and Idaho and into Wyoming to enjoy Yellowstone. Our next vacation is planned for late spring to take Burp (yeah because you know Ducky’s dragging his feet on this one) to Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm. Vacation isn’t real life, but it makes you appreciate your life (or regret it) a lot more. By the time we were finished with Vegas I was exhausted and more than ready to go home. A sensitivity to air conditioning didn’t help… well it helped the cold set in, but that’s it.
On day four of our vacation Ducky and I drove to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Self-doubt about the trip had set in along with a growing pain in Ducky’s hip that made him cranky after about five straight hours of driving. I was also worried about his fear of heights. Crap! What the worried, my husband blew me away. He even stood patiently several times and let me take his picture as 40mph winds buffeted him while he stood on the precipice of the crumbling north rim. My husband, picture, high perch… amazing. Later I thanked him for letting me take his
picture. He replied, “I have to have pictures, no one will believe it without proof.”
Day five of our trip was spent driving to Zion Canyon. I knew I’d done right when we rounded a corner in the park and I hear this amazed, “Wow!” from Ducky as the three buttes came into view. Life is good.
At the moment I only have a few digitals shots, none are from the Grand Canyon. I promise I will post those next week. But what I do have is a realization that my time here on this planet is measured and I need to make the most of it.
Share what I have to share, give what I have to give, and enjoy all that there is. Not dwell on the negative, but learn its lessons. Embrace all that is before me and love with a whole heart. I am sated with what I have – a full life that is sometimes boring, challenging, confusing, colorful, quiet, chaotic, wet, blooming, dirt brown, and leaf green; a life full of love, laughter, joy, tears, sharing, giving, taking, making, being. 
Life, our lives, is what is make of it. There is nothing else like it.
Sith,
Cele
So why did I go to Vegas, I’m not a big gambler? I went first for a reunion of the neighborhood I grew up in. And then Ducky had never been to… well anywhere. That’s not to say his family didn’t do things together, they camped a lot.
But traveled, not much. I, on the other hand, grew up in a family that traveled a bit for vacation. So over the years I have returned to some places of special memory and drug Ducky with me. On our honeymoon we laid on the beach at Balboa soaking up the rays, then took in the A’s and the Angels, his first major league baseball game. Then we spent a day at Disneyland, fulfilling a boyhood (and adulthood, I suspect) dream.
One trip we went to Frisco and spent a week seeing the sights, riding the cable cars, and venturing out the Alcatraz. The highlight (no joke) watching the fire department put out a fire on a pier – way kewl. His fear of flying kept him from going to England with me, so after 9 / 11 (which only increased his anxiety about planes) we drove to Reno, walked the boardwalks of Virginia City and cruised the streets of Tahoe and Carson City soaking in the history and sights. Another trip (really two) we drove to Seattle, took in two Mariners games, went to Pike Street, walked the waterfront, and drank coffee.
We have plans to take in spring training sometime; go to the Alamo and San Antonio another. Drive across Oregon and Idaho and into Wyoming to enjoy Yellowstone. Our next vacation is planned for late spring to take Burp (yeah because you know Ducky’s dragging his feet on this one) to Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm. Vacation isn’t real life, but it makes you appreciate your life (or regret it) a lot more. By the time we were finished with Vegas I was exhausted and more than ready to go home. A sensitivity to air conditioning didn’t help… well it helped the cold set in, but that’s it.
On day four of our vacation Ducky and I drove to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Self-doubt about the trip had set in along with a growing pain in Ducky’s hip that made him cranky after about five straight hours of driving. I was also worried about his fear of heights. Crap! What the worried, my husband blew me away. He even stood patiently several times and let me take his picture as 40mph winds buffeted him while he stood on the precipice of the crumbling north rim. My husband, picture, high perch… amazing. Later I thanked him for letting me take his
picture. He replied, “I have to have pictures, no one will believe it without proof.”Day five of our trip was spent driving to Zion Canyon. I knew I’d done right when we rounded a corner in the park and I hear this amazed, “Wow!” from Ducky as the three buttes came into view. Life is good.
At the moment I only have a few digitals shots, none are from the Grand Canyon. I promise I will post those next week. But what I do have is a realization that my time here on this planet is measured and I need to make the most of it.
Share what I have to share, give what I have to give, and enjoy all that there is. Not dwell on the negative, but learn its lessons. Embrace all that is before me and love with a whole heart. I am sated with what I have – a full life that is sometimes boring, challenging, confusing, colorful, quiet, chaotic, wet, blooming, dirt brown, and leaf green; a life full of love, laughter, joy, tears, sharing, giving, taking, making, being. Life, our lives, is what is make of it. There is nothing else like it.Sith,
Cele
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3 comments:
Hear hear!
"Vacation isn’t real life, but it makes you appreciate your life (or regret it) a lot more." I love this line so much because it is so universally true.
You know you're welcome in our neck of the woods any day of any year.
I WUV VEGAS! I can hardly wait for pics!
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