Tales from the (End of) the Vacay

What happens when you take grown siblings and throw them together for a few weeks? And throw in kids and friends and a little bit of holiday time?

• You act like you're teenagers again, not middle-aged 
• You will have so much fun that you kind of forget that you aren't still teenagers
• You don't even want to act like adults because, well, that's no fun
• You will argue a little, fuss a little and gossip a little
• You will laugh and tease and giggle a lot
• You will kid your sis-in-law about the Rock (private joke there!) and she will never get the beauty of your love for Keanu or Kevin Spacey, but you will love her anyway (the poor, sad, deluded woman...)
• Some nights you'll sit up until dawn because you don't want to miss a minute
• Some of you will drink too much, eat too much, say too much
• You will wander a strange city in a borrowed or rented vehicle (Okay, that was just me!)
• Their will be some tears as you remember the loved ones who aren't still here
• Their will be lots of smiles and great memories of those loved ones
• You will marvel over the fact that the kids you saw "not that long ago" are driving, wearing makeup, dating, graduating high school, going to college, falling in love, dealing with heartbreaks, heading into adulthood and not being the "little kids" they were a minute ago.
• In the middle of all the togetherness, there will be some stress, crankiness, pettiness, and love. There will be lots of love.
• Your crops on Farmville will be neglected (Okay, again, that was just me)
• You will hope that your mother and father can see from Heaven what a wonder they have left behind in their kids who are still brothers and sisters.
• You will be thankful for the storms and trials that your hearts and bodies have made it through and you will know that it was love that brought you here.
• You will learn all over again that these people are people you want to smack, slap, yell at and judge - but are the same people you'd die for, kill for, and reach up and pull down stars from the sky for.

I know how lucky I am, how blessed and favored by God. I have people in this big and sometimes cold and frightening world who love me. I am never going to be alone, forgotten, forsaken, unprotected or unattached. Not as long as I have this big, crazy, dysfunctional, beautiful, amazing family of mine. And they are mine forever, God help me!

Peace

--Free

P.S.: Chubby, we love you and we wish you had been here with us. I think that maybe you were.