Decisions

Decisions become easier when your will to please God outweighs your will to please the world. ~Anso Coetzer


If only it were that simple.
 
:-)
 
I have wonderful news. I actually identified one week that I did not have one single meeting on the books! It's a miracle - the week of July 4th. I decided to take that week off for vacation.
 
My original plan was to go home for the week. Then Mr. Sour Puss himself said to me, "How will I get to work?"
 
Thus my need for vacation.
 
You would not know this, but I used to travel all the time. I went on little weekend trips with "the girls" and had a blast. Since I have married the egyptian, a man who makes people who are frugal look like shop-a-holics, we don't go anywhere. And when we do - he complains about how much money we are spending.
 
He says to me, "Why don't you just stay here. We can do stuff here. Maybe go to the movies or something like that."
 
Right. Translation - I wake up early drive him to work. Come home. Clean. Go back to pick him up. He gets on the computer and chats with friends and family back home. Then he announces we are going to a movie. A movie of his choice.
 
Does not sound like a vacation to me. It sounds like every day. Plus - he never lets me pick the movie. I swear.
 
I told my friends back home, that I was going to come home for a week. I am from middle Georgia, about an hour or so south of Atlanta in a city called Macon. It is about a 4 hour drive from Birmingham. Not too bad, but long enough that you want to take your time.
 
Then I began to feel guilty.
 
But why? It's not as if he said, 'No don't go. I will miss you.' More like - 'What about me?'
 
I asked him to request the time off, he does not even want to try.
 
Sooo.. even though I deserve to go home and just get away from the BS, I have decided to compromise. I think I am going to drive home on the 1st or 2nd of July. Spend one night with family (not see any friends) - then grab my 5 year old niece and drive back to Bham on Saturday or Sunday.
 
I believe I will keep her with me through at least Thursday. I think it would be a kick to spend time alone with her - which by the way - I have NEVER done this. She is finally at that fun age, and there is no changing of the diaper! lol  I found 3 places I would loooooove to take her.
 
One place was IJump. Man this sounds like a kid's dream place.  For about $5 your kid gets 2 hours of indoor inflatable fun. There is even a rock wall and some go carts. but I figure, at her age - the running around and playing on all of those inflatables in the a/c is perfect! How much fun would that be? There apparently is an adult cafe I could wait in, but knowing me - I will be taking 5 million pics of her just going crazy. Maybe I should give her an ice cream before we go.You know - sugar her up and let her just use up all of that energy, then we come home and crash! LOL
 
Then I thought one of the days we could go to the Birmingham Zoo. Since it is so hot these days, we would need to start early. Plus, I could take her to the Sea Lion show, let her run through the Kangaroo park, ride a camel, take the train, ride a carousel, we could spend almost an entire day there! If I am strategic enough, I could map out when all of the various animals feedings are and we can watch! I am not sure if she has ever been to a zoo. This would certainly be a treat. Plus, I just love animals, about as much as she does. We could have a blast!
 
Finally, I want to take her to Alabama Adventures. Two great parks in one - an amusement park and water park.  I called home to figure out this inches thing, to see if it would even be worth it to us. Apparently she is right under 4 feet tall. (Is that tall for a 5 year old?) I was thinking, I am only 5'1 she is going to be TALL.
 
After a few days in Bham, visiting these places - maybe spending our afternoons at my pool, going to see some kid flick (yuck.. but it will be worth it to see her happy,) making home made pizzas and snow cones... then I would drive back to Macon. Spend a couple of nights there and see all of my friends and enjoy time with family.
 
Is it crazy? Is it tiring? Would it feel like vacation? Oh I don't know... but I would be with people I love. I would have the time to spend with my niece, and I could still make sure the egyptian got to work. THEN - I would still get to see friends in Macon.
 
Compromise. I think it's a good thing. Plus, I think we all win in the end.
 
Any suggestions for spending time with a 5 year old?

To the child I will never have

Dear child I never knew:

Where do I begin? I guess I could start by apologizing for not taking better care of myself. I suppose if my body had not "turned" on me, and I did not have to have that hysterectomy.. maybe.. in time.. I might have changed my mind about having children.

Soo.. for that, I am sorry.

Though I often joke about what a horrible mother I would make, I actually think I would have been a great mom! One thing is for certain, you would have grown up in a very interesting house! Your father would have been an egyptian (which means more than likely, your name would have been different!! Also, the chances are your hair would have been dark, and curly and you would definitely have more of a tan than me!) Unfortunately, the egyptian and I are not very tall, so height would not be a gift for you.

You would have been bilingual - which is pretty cool. Arabic and English. The thing is, we both actually speak fairly decent French.. so maybe even tri-lingual! You would have been a world traveler at a very young age.. transatlantic flights between grandparents!

If you were a girl, oooh you know your room would be decked out in ballet goodies! Unfortunately I would probably have pushed the "girlie girl" look on you. As a boy, I am sure you would have been a strong little man. Soccer ball in hand before you could walk!

Your father would have sang Arabic lullabies to you ( he loves to sing and play the guitar, however - he is not very good at either!) I would have held you in my arms and danced with you around our house.

But I guess we will never know each other. I am okay with that.. I assume it was all pre-destined. We never know where life will take us, or how things will end up.

One thing is for certain, you would have been one beautiful child, with an amazing personality, and some seriously cool parents! ;-)

If spirits do exist (the souls before they reach the body) and things were supposed to be different - I hope you will watch out for your "should have been father and I." We offer our apologies..

Perhaps your spirit/soul came in another form. Just.. maybe.