Florida in February was Fabulous

I just returned from a six-day vacation in Florida to visit my friends Susan and Jeff and Melinda and Dan. Three days at Sue’s; three days at Melinda’s.

 

And how nice was I? Giving Sue and Jeff the opportunity to pick me up from the airport – and Melinda the chance to take me back there on my way outta town? Doesn’t that sound nice to you?

 

Well, but hear me out. It was nice because neither one had the responsibility of driving to the airport twice. See? Nice.

 

Plus, I figured I wouldn’t annoy either couple if I didn’t overstay my welcome – hence the three-day visit rule.

 

But lemme tell you – six days just isn’t long enough.

 

As Sue pointed out, you’ve gotta take one whole day off for travel. Okay, that’s pretty much true. Counting getting to the airport and getting back home after the trip, my travel time was about 15 hours in total. So that leaves me with basically a five-day vacation.

 

Yep, not enough time.

 

But let’s look on the bright side. I had FIVE DAYS in Florida! It was sunny every single day. It was warm. Well, according to my hosts: warm-ish. It was in the 70s. Which is way warmer than it was in Ohio. After all, when I left there was still a little snow on the ground.

 

I never once resorted to wearing my jacket. I caught Melinda, on the other hand, wearing her sweatshirt on several occasions. Guess it’s true what they say about having “thinner blood” once one moves to a warmer state.

 

It was a relaxing vacation – with just enough variety to make it perfect for me. We ate out and ate in. Sue chopped and sliced and stirred and sauteed one evening and made a delicious chicken piccata. And then the next night I was at Melinda and Dan’s and we went out to eat at a great little Italian restaurant. What did Melinda order? Yep, you guessed it – chicken piccata!

 

One morning Melinda made French toast for breakfast, which was yummy. I’d love for the story to be circuitous and report that one morning Sue, Jeff and I went out to breakfast and, weirdly, we all ordered French toast. But stuff like that just doesn’t happen in Jane’s Domain. Unless, of course, we want to pretend that it did?

 

No? Well, okay, then.

 

But we did go to the ocean a couple of times. I got sand in my toes and had the chance to listen to the waves, which is one of my most favorite sounds.

 

The first time I got a little sunburnt and the next time I got zero sun because, well, I had a brand-new bottle of 70 SPF sunscreen. Plus, we had an umbrella that kept that pesky sunshine from reaching my burnt bits.

 

So, all in all, it was a delightful, albeit short stay in the Sunshine State. I loved spending time catching up with my friends. I had a great time relaxing and reading and watching some fun new shows on TV. We drank a few glasses of wine and even went shopping a time or two. And I took some wonderfully refreshing naps almost every day without the need to get up and immediately walk Maggie Minx while still half-asleep because we were on "Maggie Time" and not "Jane Time." 

 

Yeah, it was a great time!

 

And I have to admit – it’s great being back home, too. Why? Well, because I’m not crazy about living out of a suitcase – color-coded, organized packing cubes notwithstanding.

 

And, frankly, the older I get, the more I like my own little routine. That’s perhaps another way of saying I’m getting to be an old fogie who’s set in her ways.

 

Uh oh.

 

On the other hand, we all like coming home. Don’t we?

 

One of the interesting things I discovered when I was scanning my parents’ old travel photos is that my dad tended to take a few photos at the end of their trips of their house back in Alliance – or the cottage in Cape Cod. They considered both of those places “home.”

 

Weirdly, dad took a photo of his shed...!

And Dad always wrote “Home, Sweet Home” on the photo. Every time.

 

Now, sure – he was, most likely, using up the rest of the film since most of their trips were taken back in the day when you had to get the 35 mm film developed. And you couldn’t do that until you’d used up all 24- or 36-count of photos on the roll. (Dad would never have just wasted the last few pictures in order to get the film out of the camera to take to Foto-Mat to be developed.)

 

But to me it clearly demonstrated that while mom and dad loved to travel – they also loved coming back home.

 

So I’m going to think of coming home again as a good thing.

 

I feel renewed. And at peace. And ready to get back to my checklists of tasks to finish. And back to my daily dog-walking responsibilities. And meal preparations for one. And all that other stuff that sometimes feels like the “drudgery” of routine – but that can also be the good stuff that makes up our lives.

 

And maybe – just maybe – I feel the need for a little nap coming on. (Ooh, nice!)

 

Even if I am back on "Maggie Time" and have to walk Maggie Minx before I’m ready to get up and get going again.

 

Enjoy the rest of your day. I hope you do something nice for yourselves and feel that sense of renewal, whether it’s taking a break, a vacation – or even just an occasional nap. 

Enjoy!