Feb 2019
The sale of the house is getting to be a bit much and so it is time for us to get away! We’ve been talking about a massive road trip for quite a while – and decided that it is time now! We’ve had some great conversations with my Aunt Dian and Uncle Bob and think we have a plan. It is all about connecting as husband and wife in major chaos.
We left bright and early and spent night one just past Baton Rouge. We got a surprise stop at the new Alabama Buc-ees and the welcome to Florida center for OJ on the way to our hotel just short of Tallahassee for night two (holy hurricane devastation).
Car time was filled with audio books, sermons, podcasts and some of the best discussions ever. We covered every topic imaginable and he had to put up with my singing very loud and very off key on more than one occasion. We made sure to take breaks and arrive at the nightly hotels with down time to relax, have a nice dinner, and always get a good nights sleep. Day three, we pulled into their driveway in Ocala with time to unload and head out to lunch!
It was a heavenly catching up with family and just the connections. My uncle is dealing with Parkinson’s and so he and Thad enjoyed hours of support and camaraderie of the whole neuro medical challenge process as well as new fitness things to try, wii sport and afternoon cocktails on the lanai. Aunt Dian and I had all kinds of fun shopping, meandering and just being girls – something we haven’t done in decades. We absolutely loved all of our time together – visiting, pool time, playing games, laughing, more pool time and we loved visiting their church (and still listen online quite regularly!)
We also took some time for day trips and one overnight: we were all over central Florida from the gulf to the atlantic, from Jacksonville to Tampa to Daytona. We had our toes in the sand and loved every second of the waves kissing our feet. There is something about the vastness of shoreline to remember how huge God is and how in the details of everything he is!
Psalm 139:17-18
How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
New Living Translation
They cannot be numbered!
I can’t even count them;
they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
you are still with me!
Florida was a fabulous time! On the way back we stopped off in Gulf Shores to check it all out and see another part of the gulf. The best part of our hotel stay that night was getting a full price offer on the house. We headed to New Orleans to pick my mom before getting on what became a celebration cruise.
We were on the Vision of the Seas and had the bonus surprise of a family stateroom that gave my mom a separate space. After settling in, we made our way to the top lounge to watch the sale through the Mississippi – it still amazes me that it is a full 8 hours out the river. We had so much fun together on and off the ship at Key West, the Bahamas, as well as the private island. The highlight of the cruise was definitely meeting Ashton, the Restaurant Manager. He is a brother we didn’t know was missing from the family and we are looking forward to him bringing his family for a visit. It was a great 7 days followed by an 8 hour car ride home to get serious about the move – our countdown is on and we will celebrate my dad’s birthday next month with the actual sale of our home for the past 10 years – Time to get packing!
