Whenever I think about what I want my family to get out of vacation, I keep coming back to two things. I want us to all get a break from our routine, and I want us to gain experiences to allow us to imagine life outside of the ruts into which we routinely fall. I want inspiration for imagination.
I will grant sometimes the inspiration leads to moments of priceless humor which in no way lessens the value of inspiration in my eyes. After a few days on our recent trip to Jamaica spent hunting for hermit crabs along the beach and under the peers, my son earnestly threatened J saying “If you don’t let me, I will make this hermit crab pinch your booby.” My wife and I looked at each other shocked and then burst out laughing. All of the seriousness in the situation was completely lost as all five of us laughed on the beach.
Yet again, our family enjoyed the sun, the beach, Michelle and Carmelina and all of the other guests at the FDR in Jamaica. J describes our yearly visits as the vacation we take so we can stay a family because otherwise we would go insane. I’ll post pictures when I can, but it maybe a while.
As we traveled this past week, this came up in my head many times, but it was highlighted on the morning we had a reservation for horseback riding.We had already delayed our original reservation one day because A wasn’t up for it.On the second morning, we asked ourselves why push her and us.She was exhausted, and didn’t even mention it when asked what she wanted for the day.She was panicking over very small issues, and despite her loving to ride horses, we didn’t really want to risk her panic while riding.So we decided we should cancel the plans, even if it meant losing the $200 it was supposed to cost us.If we could afford to go, certainly we could afford to not go. With MS, I always plan on it being me who is sick, but the treatment and mindset needs to remain the same for whomever. Luckly, the staff at FDR (http://www.fdrholidays.com/) managed to keep us from being charged at all.
All in all, our trip to Jamaica and the FDR was incredibly nice.The staff there were generally the nicest group I’ve ever encountered on any trip.I don’t know how to express how far they were willing to go out of their way other than to tell the story of a conversation my wife had with our nanny (yes we had a nanny because the resort provides nannies for the guests’ kids) on our last full day.She asked J how she liked the resort, and my wife answered bluntly as she always does, “This place is great.It would be perfect if only it had a decent bed in the master bedroom, because ours has left me sore every night.”When we came back to shower before dinner, they were carrying a new mattress upstairs.If only we had asked after the first night…Seriously, how many places will replace the mattress the day of a complaint.It’s just one example of how far the staff at the resort regularly went to make our trip pleasant.
J and I got to go on dates each of the last three nights as our nanny took care of our kids.We went on more nights out in 5 nights there then we had gone out in the prior year.On the last night we even sang Karaoke.I was asked in college to never sing again, but I was easily talked into singing my tune killer, Puff the Magic Dragon when J saw it in the book of possible songs.With 6 of us there, it’s not like I was singing to a crowd, and it’s not like I didn’t warn them.It’s the tune I sing when songs get stuck in my head and has been for decades.What I loved and will keep in my head was the back and forth with J singing, “You are my Sunshine” to which I answered with “There Must be 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.”Of course J got the final word in singing about the 51st way with “Goodbye Earl.” Yikes!
Anyway, here are a couple pictures from my favorite of our family vacations:
