A Year Long Vacation

I wish I had news but we are still waiting and so, so must you. When I dropped Aidan off for his morning carpool on our street I wondered what it must be like for the poor neighbors. Our house sits there in disrepair (nice way to put it) with HUGE dumpster in the driveway, it's rather unsightly, to say the least, and it's been like that for about 3 months...and a week - if you were counting.

It seems that we are in this never ending holding pattern. I realized the other day that despite the fact that we are "carrying on" we really aren't living, we are just waiting. For example, despite the fact that we have attended family functions with relatives we don't often see and other special events, I haven't really taken any photos. The ones I have taken are mostly of our house or damaged items as support for our list. I wondered if it was somehow a subconscious effort to be able to later forget about this year - no photos, no proof. But I have decided instead to try to live this year as an adventure. It is a big year for us, I turned forty, Alyssa is turning 13 (on the 13th!) - those are milestones worth scrap booking and for this you need pictures. We are living in this "Grand" house that is certainly worth remembering. As are the everyday moments. One day I will want to remember what my precious kiddos looked like when they were 10 and 12 and how we looked before we were old and shriveled.

A good friend of mine gave me a great suggestion and I am going to take it. So here is my plan. In about 3 weeks we are moving to a new rental house near our house which will be much more convenient for us to monitor construction and is closer to our friends and general life. It's a gorgeous house with a walking path to a private beach on Lake Mission Viejo. It's fully furnished, not exactly our style but it feels like a hotel where we'd enjoy staying. So, I am going to use this time to try and complete the chores that are hanging over my head. Finish the dreaded list, sort through the last bits in the garage, etc. Then, once we move into the "lake house" I am going to pretend we are on vacation. Now don't take this to mean I am going to sit around and drink fruity beverages with little umbrellas in them for the next year (though this "new" house does lend itself well to that idea). I am going to use the time to create some great memories by approaching each day with watchful anticipation, and seizing the opportunities - after all people pay to come here for vacation so it shouldn't be too hard!

We put our lives on hold for too many things and we all know there is no guarantee how long we'll get so I don't want to waste any more time, 3 months was enough. I'm hoping that years from now when we look back we'll remember the year our house burned down as the best year of our lives.