Our 14-year-old daughter spent the night with her best friend. We decided to leave our 17-year-old son home alone as he requested. I figured that it was a good baby step toward college days - plus, he could feed the cats and dogs. And he was under strict orders not to have any company - i.e., his girlfriend.
Fourth of July weekend is not an ideal one for driving toward the Gulf Coast - but I had no clue it would be that congested and slow. But we finally arrived...we checked into our hotel room, which was very nice and centrally-located, and made plans for dinner.
We checked on the kids a couple of times - everything was fine. Of course, I had that feeling of guilt and worry - I was four hours away! What if something happened?! I guess parents never really get over that feeling. I always tell my kids that my biggest fear is that something will happen to them that is totally out of my control. And I don't like to not be in control.
My hubby and I had seen a barbecue place on the way in - just a little hole-in-the-wall, which from my experience usually are the best ones. The desk clerk confirmed that. We had a nice meal together. It was so much easier that trying to find a place that the kids could agree on, too
After dinner, we decided to head down to the beach. I just wanted to see the water before the sun set. It was nice to just enjoy the beauty of the scene without being asked where we were going next, what we were going to do, when we would be eating again.
We had a nice quiet evening at the hotel. No kids...no cats...no dogs.... Well, that was until about 3 a.m. when I started getting texts from my daughter - she had a stomachache and wanted to go home. Of course, I said no. Then I got texts from her friend's mother, saying that my daughter thought I would be fine with her going home, but that she was against it. I told her no, too. She had given my daughter something for her stomachache. I told her to send my daughter to bed - that she was welcome to dump her back at our house after sunrise. Needless to say, she was fine when she woke up - something she ate or drank.
We got a few hours of sleep and then enjoyed the free breakfast at the hotel. I am all about the free breakfast! We checked out - much easier without having to find the kids' stuff in every nook of the room - and made it to the writers' conference in plenty of time. We both enjoyed it very much. How often to you get to sit and listen to one of your favorite writers talk about the writing process? Priceless!
After the conference, we headed to the local bookstore for the author's book signing - again, priceless to me! Then we did some shopping at one of my favorite stores in that area and at the outlet mall. We had a nice dinner...good food and conversation...before making the trip home.
The drive home wasn't as congested and we made decent time. We didn't have to stop as often for bathrooms or drinks as we would have with kids. And when we got home, the kids were fine.
We didn't have an exotic...or expensive trip...but it was a good one. We got some alone time - time away from everyone else to reconnect and talk and just be a couple - and we like it. And we do plan to do it again. If I could just get rid of that guilt thing!
