In a State of Son-Shine

Yes, I have finally returned. After a long grueling week of “vacation” in the beautiful, sunny state of Florida…I was oh so happy to return to my blissful surroundings of excessive laundry, mosquitoes, dust on the mantle and the exciting life of an administrative assistant. Obviously I am struggling with my return to reality just a bit.

As I have posted before, H had the National Fine Arts competition in Orlando, and we took his worship team, 2 female soloists, a quartet and a male soloist. Out of the mix our male soloist made the final 16 in the nation. Pretty impressive, huh? The worship team missed moving onto the second round by 0.33—do you see that decimal in there? It may have been a few years since I’ve done the new math, but I know that is pretty stinking close!!! They totally rocked!!! I was so proud of each of the kids—they handled defeat with dignity and grace…while the moms kicked, stomped, stuck out our lower lips, crossed our arms and generally looked sour. Or maybe that was when we needed a diet coke…oh, whatever…..

We had 22 people travel (11 kids—11 adults)—and split the housing situation 13 to 9 (7 bdr/6 bdr). H and I were in the larger of the 2—it had a pool, game room, 4 bathrooms and a gator in the back pond. Yes, you heard me…a live gator. One morning I was washing up some breakfast dishes and looked out across the pool and saw this “log” gliding across the water. One of the boys told me that I said, “No way—no way…are you kidding me…there’s an alligator outside!—really it was all a blur…I don’t believe for a second that I am really that dramatic. So, all of us scrambled outside to the edge of the screened in pool (looking back, that flimsy little screening wouldn’t have saved us-would it?) with cameras clicking and mouths agape. About that time we noticed two men walking near the edge of the water who were there to retrieve the said perpetrator (I’ve been watching Without a Trace at 5 in the am, what can I say). They received a call a day and a half before…but Mr. I-could-be-a-really-cute-purse-and-shoes…was a pond over then…therefore (do the math) he had somehow traveled to our pond. Now, we were not in the Everglades or Camp Swampy…we were in a beautiful subdivision!!! What the heck? Can you even imagine taking out the trash to be greeted by that at the garage door? I digress though…long story short…they didn’t catch him (the whole week), they said he was about 6 ½ feet (really?) and within 2 days…he had a friend out there with him (smaller one). Yeah, obviously I didn’t spend much time cruising around the mossy edge.

Other than the gator(s) our week was filled with fun, laughter, drama, food, worship, Tony Dungy, music, heat, sweat and a pretty blue convertible. Uh, huh, that’s right--we had reserved a full size car, but when we went to pick up they offered us a rag-top for the same price—how could we say no? The last night we were there, my friend Julie and I (we shared the car) decided to enjoy it for one last time. We pulled over in front of the Convention Center right by all the security guys and lowered the top, then rounded the curve and screeched to a halt b/c the sprinklers had kicked on. Not your typical little sprinkle across the grass type, but a huge Old Faithful geyser of water shooting 10 feet in the air and coming back down…right in the road…at the stop sign!!! Seriously, I couldn’t make this up… After shrieks of laughter and considerable debate, we pulled our best Thelma and Louise and blew the stop sign…and continued on our way!!!

The week was a great time of memories and fun. I hope that H always recalls his growth that week (let me tell you—I’m glad he’s a boy and not a drama-filled girl), the Hulk at Universal, free hi-fives, late nights, early mornings and dreams of his future and where he wants to go with it. I am so proud to have a fun young man of God growing up in my house that can make everyone laugh, make friends with anyone, make fun of himself, and enjoy life. Ahhh….life is good, no matter what state you may be in.