I awoke this morning and realized
That my two weeks of here and now are over

That here and now that allowed me to rise
Listening to the ocean and the buoy sounding

That here and now that had me wildly snapping pictures
Of whales and waterfalls, of craggy coast lines and wiggling lobsters

 

Growing up, summer vacations meant hiking in Mammoth Mountain. After the first couple consecutive years, I was ready to go somewhere else. We used to go other places—Palm Springs, Big Bear, San Francisco, Arizona, Utah. We even went all the way to Disney World when I was seven. So I began looking through the AAA book for some new ideas.

If you've ever ridden an airplane, you know exactly what can happen when a kid is onboard. It can range from stress to boredom to ear pain. It's never easy, but it's even worse when the kid in question is YOUR kid. Now, we can deal with the ear pain (nursing a baby, gum, jaw exercises by making funny faces, etc.), but the stress and boredom are a bit more difficult.