Vacation All I Ever Wanted!

I am writing today from sunny Florida!  Goodbye Polar Vortex hello Mickey!  Being the anxiety ridden flyer that I am, I tried to keep my mind off of things by reading and what else-writing!  So my dear blog readers here are some simple vacation observations!

Don McLean’s song American Pie is a classic.  I love it.  Will sing it whenever I hear it.  Hearing the part “this will be the day that I die” before boarding a plane…not so much!  Nothing like that sentence playing over and over in your head while trying to act cool, calm and collected in front of my five year old!

Airplane bathrooms.  They are unsurprisingly built for Hobbits.  However that wasn’t what struck me as weird.  It was the ashtray built into the door.  Why do you need an ashtray on an airplane?  Isn’t smoking prohibited on planes?

I never realize what a New Englander I am until I travel.  In our hotel room the A/C is kept at 68 degrees.  That is tropical-I-can’t-sleep-weather.  I get it; you Floridians are accustomed to sweltering heat.  Typically I don’t like the heat ON when I sleep-even in the middle of our Polar Vortex.  (But they are fixing it today!  Yay for Disney!)

As a parent, the greatest thing about vacations is watching your child get some special attention!  Brady was the "honorary captain" on our flight and I thought I would cry it was so sweet!

There is nothing…NOTHING better than getting into your family bubble and letting your kid lead the way!  We had to scrimp and save to get here…but it was worth it!  Now I have to go see a guy about a mouse, and search the World Showcase for any and all Tardis souvenirs!

Things to do to Beat the Snow!

Has another wintry night in New England ruined your plans?  Make a mug of hot cocoa and grab that peanut butter and Fluff sandwich!  Here’s a list of things to do while snowed in!

Catch up on some housework…okay scratch that no one actually does that during a blizzard!

Catch up on House of Cards.  I have no idea what this is.  I think it’s a Netfliix/Showtime/Starz type of program.  And if your Facebook feed looks anything remotely like mine, you have been inundated with your friends binging on this show today.  Apparently this is the number one thing to do this Saturday in New England!

Can’t get to your local watering hole since your street has more snow than Sochi, Russia?  Then develop a drinking game!  (If you’re over 21 that is!)  Every time a meteorologist has to adjust the predicted snow totals, have a shot!

Or if you want a quicker buzz…every time someone on your Facebook feed complains about the snow have a shot!  

Or for fun…every time a friend who lives in a warmer climate posts the temperature with a cute “sorry RI!  We have all the sun!” resist the urge to jump on a plane to slap them...and just have a shot.

How about writing the next great American novel?

 

Brian's Novel (Family Guy)

Maybe something about a region crippled by weekly snowfalls?  No?

Think of the snow as your wing man.  What better way to avoid people you don’t like!

Oh screw it!  Book the next flight out to Florida and come back in the Spring!

The Battle of the Bulge

Six years ago I found myself getting ready for my ten year high school reunion.  I was nervous, almost terrified really.  I thought about what I would wear for a week.  In high school I was thin without trying.  A size two no matter what I ate!  Ten years later…well I would tell you my size but then I would have to kill you!  Besides the nerves and the terror I was embarrassed.  Embarrassed that I had not been preserved in some sort of time capsule only to be opened up at the exact moment in time.  I was grateful for one thing.  I was pregnant.  I was not grateful for the obvious reasons; the joy of carrying a life.  No.  I was grateful that I could use my pregnancy to blame the extra weight I had gained in the decade since I had seen my classmates.  Never mind that I was barely through my first trimester and could only blame a good ten pounds I had gained on being pregnant.  Ten years and what did I have to show for it?  About fifty pounds!  And then this past weekend I found myself getting ready for a mini reunion of sorts.  I noticed something different this time.

I did not worry about what I looked like at all. 

No, I hadn’t become a supermodel overnight and miraculously fit back into those size two skirts once again. I mean I have been working out a bit; I try to run and have been doing my best to live a healthier lifestyle. 

But I noticed something…

This body has seen the world in sixteen years. 

Can I blame the extra weight around my middle on being a very busy mom who sometimes gives up and eats mac and cheese for dinner?  No.  Not blame.  I can however reflect that this is the body that carried one of the most amazing human beings I know for nine months. 

These arms that are not as slim as the arms of eighteen year old me?  Well these are the arms of someone who has held people I love, rocked someone to sleep, hugged long lost friends. 

These shoulders are shoulders that have been there for people to cry on. 

These wrinkles around my eyes tell the story of a million laughs in sixteen years.

We need to stop beating ourselves up over what we look like.  Now I am not concerned about my extra weight as much as I am concerned about not having the stamina to keep up with a very active little boy.  I eat healthier not to starve myself, but to make better nutrition choices in the hopes that my son will follow suit. Will I lose weight by exercising and making better food choices?  Of course.  Am I going to labor over a scale and worry that it doesn’t show the same number it did sixteen years ago?  Not anymore.  Because sixteen years ago there was a whole world I didn’t have.

And I wouldn’t trade it for anything.