Fixin' t' git ready

Vacation. Edisto. Bliss. Anticipation.

Packing. Ugh.

Last night Woodrow asked me why we go on vacation every year, as if this were such a foreign concept that he needed to understand why we do this. I goggled at him with my mouth hanging open, trying to come up with an answer that would satisfy his logical brain. I'll discuss it with him at more length later today, because all I could come up with at that time was, "Because we need a break."

Is that a reasonable answer? Is it competely explanatory? I don't think so. Woodrow doesn't remember when we didn't take a vacation every year. I do. I grew up in a family that didn't take a trip each summer. When I was very little, Daddy took us to Edisto Island twice that I can recall. Other than that, trips were taken to see his mother in upper East Tennessee, or to Mississippi/Louisiana to see my mother's siblings. I suppose the Mississippi trips were pretty darned vacation-like, but they weren't like other people's vacations.

Other people went to Myrtle Beach. Other people went to Disney World. Some of our more exotic, wealthy friends went to Europe. We didn't. My friends would come to school with tales of travels and souvenirs from the Grand Canyon, and I would say, "Yeah, well... I went to camp."

When Wesley and I were first married -- well, I got pregnant with Emily immediately, and she was born 9 months, 11 days after the wedding, and she had a heart defect. We took a trip to Orlando in the summer of '89 and left her with my mother for almost a week. I didn't like that. Then life got busy. Mama's cancer came back. I got pregnant again. Time flew, and going on vacation seemed impossibly expensive and difficult to organize.

In the summer of '96, we took the kids to Walt Disney World, and the veil was lifted from our eyes. Oh, we paid for that trip on credit, which was foolish. Having learned that lesson, we didn't take any trip in '97. Then in '98, we saved our pennies and went back to Disney, and that's when we realized, "OK, this is more than just recreation. This is necessary."

A soul needs respite from the wearying world. For me, it's really cool to have someone else make the beds and wash the dishes for a whole week. Wesley just loves to get away from his job. Emily and Woodrow like to see something new and different.

Every year, we plan a vacation, determine how much it's going to cost, and save the money to pay for it before we leave. Edisto is far, far less expensive than Disney, but these are our two favorite vacation spots. Sometimes I'd like to travel more in a year -- I'd like to take the whole family out to Las Vegas to visit Amy and see Red Rock Canyon together, or maybe... maybe a nice little trip to Ireland would be fun. But I always, always want to go to Disney or Edisto, too.

Disney is the thrilling trip. Oh, Disney's attention to detail, and all the millions of things to do -- one is never bored there. I always cry over the fireworks. I love the food. But we exhaust ourselves in Orlando, running from favorite things to new things and back again.

Edisto is the laid-back trip. It's Wesley's favorite. He loves the ocean. We sleep in late, we wander around aimlessly, we eat barefoot in open-air shacks and watch sunsets over the marsh.
You know, this year was supposed to be a Disney year, but a couple of financial setbacks nibbled at our vacation funds. The day I cancelled our Disney plans and booked the house on Edisto was a weird day. I remember how much I loved Edisto last year, how warm and gentle the ocean felt, and the bliss of the outdoor shower -- and it's really hard to think, "This is a downgrade from our original plans."

On the other hand, I had not one, single, perfectly sublime meal last year on Edisto. So this year I'm on a mission: I must have at least one fabulous dinner in a swanky place. It's necessary. It isn't vacation unless I'm raving about the meal we had that other people can't have because they weren't there with us.

Now, back to the point of today's post: We're packing. I took Cosmo and Hector to the vet yesterday for boarding. I miss them terribly. The house is quiet, although Lilo (Em's cockatiel) and Orlando (Woodrow's budgie) are still trying to fill the rooms with their tweets and chirps.

I hope we don't forget anything. Has anyone seen my camera?

Things to remember:
- Put newspaper on hold
- Take postcard addresses
- Find a book to read
- Cut some bangs
- Bug repellant...