Turns out, the ideal beach vacation, has very little to do with the weather.
Last summer, my family vacationed in Destin, Florida. It had been years since I had been to the Gulf of Mexico and I was super excited. Our past several beach trips were to the Atlantic side of Florida. They were all wonderful trips, but the white beaches and the clear water on the Gulf of Mexico, are hard to beat.
I couldn’t wait to spend hours and hours, sitting on the sand and listening to the waves. I literally counted the days until we could go. The beach and the water didn’t disappoint. It was as beautiful as I had hoped.
Unfortunately, the weather was not. It rained. I mean not like that normal Florida rain, where it rains an hour every afternoon and moves out. It rained for hours every single day, but one.
There was a time in my life when I would have been devastated and would have believed the vacation that I had been waiting for a year to go on, was ruined.
But, I’ve finally reached a point in my life, where I’ve come to understand that my happiness doesn’t come from the where I am, but from the who I’m with.
My hubby and I were blessed to have our older teenagers with us. I have no idea how many more vacations they will both be able to join us for. There will be things like internships, and jobs, and maybe even summer school, that will keep them busy.
We were able to squeeze out at least a few hours each day of beach time and it was enough.
When we were indoors, we watched movies together and even watched and played some game shows. We talked. We hung out in ways that we really don’t when we are at home.
We got to play putt-putt golf and race cars. We went to see “The Incredibles 2,” fourteen years after we saw the first one together.
When my kids were little, I might have considered the entire vacation a bust. When we have preconceived notions of what the “perfect” anything, looks like, we are bound to be disappointed and we can sometimes miss the blessings that God has placed right in front of us.
It’s not really possible to capture meaningful conversations and inside jokes on social media.
Maybe that’s by design. Maybe the moments that matter the most to us, will always be the ones that are the most personal and will have very little to do with the circumstances, and everything to do with the people we share them with.
A rainy beach trip reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂