Spring into Vacation

Having the past week of vacation has been soothing and relaxing. We've done fun things but tried not to be too scheduled.

The minute vacation started, literally the first Friday night, I radically altered my sleep schedule. I don't know if I'm choosing my own natural pace or just matching my rhythm to J's, but I'm staying up til midnight and sleeping until at least 9:00 or 10:00 am. It's such a relief to wake up when I want to! And not to have to constantly nag at other people about where to be.

I find myself writing in the evenings now, getting going around 6:00 or 7:00 pm and working past 11:00. I don't know if I would keep this schedue forever. Given a few more unstructured weeks like this, I might prefer to shift back towards being awake earlier in the mornings. But I am enjoying it for now!

Last week, we had one of J's friends stay with us for three days. It was weird always having an extra kid or so around, like our family suddenly expanded. But she fit right in. In fact, we had others of their friends over each day as well, so there would usually be somewhere between three and six girls hanging out in our living room. Can I just say how very, very grateful I am that they are a group of girls and not boys?? I think that would be a whole different story! But I like the girls, and they like me, so we had lots of fun together.

Thursday I took four of them to the mall and that was just a blast. I let them do whatever they wanted while I just trailed around after them. For a long time, they tried on fancy prom dresses together and giggled and I was free to do my own shopping and periodically check on them. Then we spent a lovely hour or so in Sephora - a magical place of make up - while they sampled nail polishes and I bought birthday presents. Now, I am not at all interested in trying to "fit in" with this group. They are young, and I am the adult. But it did bring back memoreis of my own teen years when my friends and I used to go to the same mall. Now is so, so much better!!

Now, I have my own sense of style. My hair always looks good. I'm not looking for a boyfriend, Thank God. And I have a job, a car, and a credit card. Much more fun in every way! We had a good time together doing our girl-fashion-shopping thing. Having them around made vacation fun for the girls and fun for me too. And S didn't seem to mind. (Although he did decline to join in on the mall trip.)

This weekend was about my friends. We joined my group in San Diego and had a nice get together with my French friend and her group. It was nice to hear French again, and sit around snacking and drinking wine. It's everything I ever dreamed of all those years when I was learning French word by painstaking word. Suddenly, one of the women decided we should go to the beach for sunset. So we all leapt into our cars and went. We were eight adults and ten kids, trailing along the beach, digging in the sand, the kids turning cartwheels, the adults grouping up to chat in French and English -- just meadering along and watching the view. What a perfect day!

Hope your days are good as well -- relaxing and giving you all the stress-free sleep you want!