Destination Discipline

I’ve had a dream for a long time…that I jump in my car and drive to the ocean. On Saturday, June 29th, this dream came true. My husband and I left early Saturday morning and drove 12 hours to Gulf Shores, Alabama. It was a wonderful day of talking and getting reacquainted and falling in love again. We left our three beastlets in the care of my mother(BLESS HER) so there was no “Pipe down in the back” or “Stop farting on your brother!” What a nice day.

We arrived at the beach the next morning full of expectation. We immediately encountered a gentleman who was leaving… “Y’all be careful out there. There’s a lot of jellyfish.”

I braved the water anyway…(ankles only) and had the interesting experience of being stung by “the jelly’s.” We sat out the rest of the afternoon and watched the waves instead.

Day two was better. Not as many “jelly’s” and I actually got to swim. I love swimming in the ocean. Even while being stung by stray jellyfish tentacles.

Day three I met a nice local man at the shore by our cottage. He came in on a kayak and I struck up a conversation. “Are there any beaches close by where we could see some creatures?” I love sea creatures! He said Johnson Beach was a good place to visit and gave me directions. He also said Pensacola Beach, in Florida, was a beautiful place. We tried to find Johnson Beach and couldn’t so we made the 50 miles trek to Pensacola instead. This is what we saw.

It was the prettiest beach ever. There was a yellow warning flag indicating that waves were high and we should swim with caution. I flung myself into the waves and spent several hours jumping and being carried by the water. It was incredible. I was having so much fun in the waves that everyone else disappeared. I heard my husband scream “Margaret!” and I turned to see we were the only people still in the water. Then I heard someone on the beach scream something that sounded like “Shark!” I didn’t panic. I just swam as fast as I could and abandoned my husband to the waves. Yes, I would totally leave him to the shark. My children like me better any way.

We quietly ate our lunch on the shore while a little girl told me about the 6 foot shark that swam right next to her and nearly ate her all up. Then we saw a giant sting ray swim by about two feet from the shore. Creatures indeed!

Near the end of our jaunt we met a man who struck up a conversation with us(the best part of vacation is often meeting people and sharing life stories). One of the first things he said was “There’s a lot of jellyfish down at Johnson Beach. That’s why we came here.” Ha!

We sat on the front porch of our cottage and grilled steaks(a real treat for us) and chilled out on our last night in Orange Beach, Alabama(the cottage was in OB though we visited the beaches in Gulf Shores.) It was a nice, quiet evening and we collapsed into bed, utterly exhausted and ready to head home.

Wednesday morning I woke up early and decided to make one last trip to the beach. I put on my walking shoes and decided to fulfill one more dream….jogging on the beach. I arrived at Gulf State Park near the pier around 6:00am and ran along the beach, taking pictures of ominous storm clouds and sticking my tongue out at the birds. They were utterly annoyed that I interrupted their fishing and gave me the evil eye as I passed by.

I met a nice woman at one point who instructed me not to walk on the dry sand because they were taking pictures of the turtle tracks. Overnight a turtle had crawled onto the beach to look for a nesting site. I was happy to get my shoes and socks soaking wet to protect the turtle tracks. Oy!

This is me at the end of my jog….about 50 minutes later. What do you think? Do I look happy?

We survived the long drive home and today I am back with my beastlets. It was a really nice trip and we hope to do it again someday.

I am also proud to say that neither of us got a sunburn thanks to generous applications of 50 SPF sunblock. I came home with plenty of shells and some residual sand. I am filled with peace and looking forward to spending the rest of my vacation time with my family.

Today we celebrate our nation’s independence. We celebrate our freedoms and reflect on the sacrifices made by brave soldiers who saw a future worth fighting for. Without them vacations like this may not be possible. Happy Independence Day everybody!

This day ends with a whisper and a snore. My dogs are sleeping blissfully on their beds beside my computer while I contemplate the many events of the day. It was a simple day. Nothing much of substance happened. And yet it was important. Every moment of today contributed to the sum total of experiences in my life. Twenty years from now I may not remember it. My children will forget what they had for dinner and I’ll forget what terribly important project I needed to finish at work. It will have been just another Thursday in the grand scheme of my life.

How many days like these do we encounter, the days where nothing of significance happens. We smile and nod and exchange informal conversations with strangers at work. We complain about our headaches and backaches and cranky children. And it’s just life.

And yet I believe I am living intentionally. I consider every person, every interaction, valuable. The conversation with Angela, my favorite Shop N Save Deli associate, who has the prettiest braids and most beautiful smile. Every time I see her we both light up. And she tells me about her grandchildren and I explain why I love Muenster cheese. And we are living life together, sharing a moment where we connect and experience humanity in a tangible way. I feel like I spend half my life in Shop N Save buying food for my family, so much so that many of the workers there have become like family to me. They might think I’m that crazy, frizzy girl with the goofy smile, but that’s okay. I am comfortable enough with myself to be real.

This morning while riding my bicycle I saw a pharmacy worker walking her dog and I waved and said good morning. It was about 5:25am. So when I saw her in the store tonight she just smiled at me. “You sure get up early!” Yes. Yes I do.

I’m not rich. I don’t have a fancy house or a lot of cool gadgets and gizmos. I live a fairly simple life. But I am rich in love, the love I receive from my family and friends and even from strangers who make the effort to smile back. Most often the most extraordinary lives are lived on cul de sacs, in poorer neighborhood’s where children’s tummies are filled with hotdogs and beans. They grow up repeating those patterns with their own children and a legacy resonates throughout history. So when you are experiencing a day that wasn’t very exciting, where you subsisted on coffee and candy bars and your head hits the pillow with no huge sense of accomplishment, remember that every day you live, regardless of how ordinary, is precious simply because you existed in it.

I need to give up coffee. This comes as a total shock to me as I only began drinking it six or seven months ago. I have heard many things about coffee over the years but nothing that came close to me forming such a strong opinion. I knew only that I liked the smell when I walked through the grocery aisle, but I had never met a cup of coffee I actually liked.

And then my job moved me to a new building. The coffee pot is centrally located and my nostrils were delighted every day with the sweet aroma of fresh roasted beans(okay, they are freeze dried granules but they still smelled good). One fateful, sleep-deprived day I consumed a cup to get me through the afternoon and I was hooked. Soon I was buying beans whole, grinding them and making a delightful brew. My husband bought me a beautiful thermos for Christmas and every day I lovingly fill it with home brewed coffee and gently sip on it throughout the morning. I save a cup for after lunch and my day is complete. Bliss!

A couple weeks ago I noticed I was having trouble getting to sleep at night. I also realized when I did go to sleep I kept waking up. I was a little frustrated and a small voice spoke to my brain, “You may need to cut back on the coffee.” No big deal, I said to no one in particular. I’ll skip the coffee tomorrow. That was Monday, June 17th—a day that shall forever exist in my mind as a day of infamy.

Crabby isn’t the right word and neither is headache. Stress-filled work day also doesn’t cut it. Somehow I survived 7:30am to 4:30pm but when I arrived home my beastlets(the creatures born of my womb) tried to make me referee their game of “Mutilate My Brother.” I asked them nicely on four separate occasions to give Mommy a break because I had gone ALL DAY without coffee for one of the most stressful days of my career thus far. But they couldn’t stop screaming long enough to hear me, that is, until I started to scream. I had to grab ears(the sure sign of imminent doom) and incent them with a dinner free evening in order to make them cooperate. And I still didn’t sleep well so I went back to coffee the next day convinced I had made a grave error in judgement.

But an idea was born. Maybe coffee isn’t so good for me. If withdrawals are that bad, maybe I need a break. The most powerful disincentive, however, is that coffee curbs my appetite. So I decided henceforth NOT to give up coffee but take a break on the weekends to catch up on sleep.

Cue to June 22nd and 23rd.

I was too busy to notice any adverse side-affects, other than the fact that I was ravenously hungry and ate everything that came across my path. I gained 5 pounds in 2 days. How does that happen? Oh, I didn’t drink any coffee.

This morning I arrived at work, thermos filled to the brim of tantalizing, caffeinated bliss. I settled in and began sip, sip, sipping away. An hour later my brain started to race. A few minutes after that I realized my hands were shaking. Then the room started to jump and jerk. I went and hid in the bathroom. It was like some sort of horrible trip. I placed my hands on the stall walls and thought, “My God, make it stop!” Evidently I was experiencing caffeine overload. Two coffee free days had evidently cleansed my system enough to make me super sensitive. I somehow made it through the morning without vomiting (just barely).

Years ago I had a few bad experiences with alcohol and swore it off for life. I’ve never missed it. This morning I do believe I had my last experience with caffeinated coffee. I would say I’m in mourning, but I would rather be prodded with hot pokers than ever experience that super-jolted feeling again. It was sort of like being hooked to a non-lethal form of electrocution. The truth is, I don’t really understand why God has allowed this to happen. There are so few things in life that I enjoy guilt free, and coffee was one of them. I can only hope that the old saying is true… “When God closes a door, He opens a window.”

And I really want to slap the person who said that because it’s a really stupid saying.

Oh, is that the crabby-coffee withdrawal already? Sheesh!