Saturday, March 30, 2013

Before 5:00

This whole vacation I have slept later than I normally do...sometimes I am under cover until 8:00 AM which is late for me.  Perhaps it is the endless trips to the activities, back to the apartment and then on to the pool.  Perhaps it is the running after a recently turned -two-year-old that has discovered real speed on tennis shoes.  Perhaps it is the emotional ups and downs of seven people confined combined in a two-bedroom apartment.  I just know that when evening came I was more than ready to open my arms to Morpheus.

So, this morning of our departure I awaken before 5:00AM!  I know that it is my anal personality that wants to make sure everything is found, sorted and packed before the long drive back to reality.  But silly me cannot do anything noisy as everyone else is still fast asleep.

I cut a small piece of the remaining birthday cake covered in icky blue trimmed frosting and sit with my Kindle and finish "Schroeder, A Novel" which is certainly a haunting bit of work appropriate with overly sweet birthday cake.  I look around the strangely bare apartment where every board game, laptop, Thomas the Train track and wet towel has been tucked away for another year.   The only sound is that of the climate control unit...which seems to have switched between heat and air-conditioning as the weather has been all over the place.

I wait, somewhat impatiently, for the peach red sunrise to burn over the Atlantic Ocean but only see black inky darkness outside the window broken by soft landscape lighting around the paths to and from the pools. Only one other apartment light on the high rise of the far building is lit in sync with mine.  Perhaps someone else is wandering about looking for the day to start.

I must wait to make coffee so that it will be fresh for my daughter when she rises.  I had brought some of the Mexican coffee with my ground cinnamon and she has become an addict looking forward to it each morning.  We have just enough for one final pot.

I will miss this lovely stressful high energy family as we all go our different ways following spring north.  This has been a week of firsts:  the 2-year-old saying a complete sentence, the 5-year-old actually giving in for a change, and the 7-year-old completing two of the longest bicycle rides in his lifetime. It is not without some sadness that I face realistically my future of less energy and ability to keep up as they grow.  But I am realistic in knowing they will not want me at their side during that future time as well. 

Well, I have a busy spring of volunteer gardening to distract me...if it ever stops snowing up that way.

14 comments:

  1. So sweet of you to wait to make the coffee. Not sure I would have the same discipline! :)

    Here is what happens to me when I rise early like that - about two hours in I am ready to crash. Nap time! Alas, that is when all the activity really begins. Sigh.

    Coffee has little effect on me.

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  2. Me...I would have made the coffee...I need it! Ha!
    Sweet time you have had.
    Hugs
    SueAnn

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  3. Have a nice rest before heading out to the gardens. Some vacations can be hectic but they make good memories.

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  4. Lovely sounding vacation, I can almost smell the coffee. I have a house full of spring break grandkids and I noticed I am in bed much earlier than I used to be. Not sure if its less energy or just the need for more time to recoup.

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  5. The delightful kind of trip that always makes me glad to be back home where I can do whatever I please again... mostly.

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  6. It's too bad that good things like vacations must come to an end. Like you, my vacation is now over and I must look somewhere else to channel my energy. Happy Easter.

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  7. What a wonderful mum/grandma you are. Perhaps you are just extraordinarily kind and considerate. Waiting around, not having a drink, not making any noise, all would have been very hard for me.

    I might not have succeeded even if I’d tried.

    My first thought on reading your piece was “ how heavenly for Tabor to be able to get back to civilization and a bed/room/kitchen of her own.”

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  8. So much love in this post. It spills out of every line. :)

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  9. "But I am realistic in knowing they will not want me at their side during that future time as well."

    I know/knew that too. As much as I loved my grandmother, there came a time when I didn't want to spend a lot of time at her house. I knew it would happen with my grandkids too; I just wish my husband could get used to the idea. It hurts him, no matter how much I tell him he was probably just like that with his grandparents too.

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  10. Understand so much you share in this post.
    Memories
    we continue to make them...

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  11. Hubby and I are now enjoying with our 1 and half year old granddaughter, but I know, I should know that some day, maybe in the near future, we would have the same feeling as you describe in this posting...

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  12. smiles...it is rather sad that those times must come to an end you know...i am on spring break this week...so i might sleep in a bit...smiles....or maybe i will greet the sun knowing my boys will sleep in...

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  13. Seems that the activity is feast or famine. Yours mirrors my own life, but I have yet to go on vacation with the g-whiz kids. And now you have 3!

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  14. Granny time is special, they grow up so very fast. Letting them find their own wings is hard, but dammit I'm doing it!

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Take your time...take a deep breath...then hit me with your best shot.