Summer@Home: The Bliss of NOT Being at Home

We went on vacation this summer.

To many people, that's not a monumental statement. However, we don't actually go on vacation very often. We visit family at their homes. Or we visit family homes when the owners are not there. But I can only count three real vacations we've been on since Herb and I were married just over 10 years ago. This year was one of them.

Our oldest, Ian, is going to college in the fall. So honestly, we don't know how many more of these "everyone is here together at the same time" vacations we're going to have. So we splurged and went to Hilton Head Island for a week. It was my favorite vacation spot when I was growing up. I had so many fond memories of Hilton Head that I wanted to share it with my kids.

One of the things I didn't really expect was how freeing it was for me to be on vacation with the family. Other than the drive up and back — which Herb had to do on his own — it was easy for me to forget that I couldn't drive. For the most part, when we went anywhere, we were all going together. No disappointments for the kids from hearing, "I'd love to take you, but I can't because Dad's not here."

And we were bicycling distance from the grocery store.  Hallelujah and pass the peanuts! I could go to the grocery store. By. My. Self. I'm not sure that I ever actually did. But just knowing that I could was enough.

And it was a Piggly Wiggly, no less! You can't beat that with a stick.

[Piggly Wiggly ... yet another amazing memory from my childhood! But I'll write about that another time.] 

There were two particularly memorable events from our vacation that I'd like to share.

Summer@Home Day 25: Making Ghee

Day 25
One consequence of not driving is that I'm at the mercy. Of whom or what varies from day to day. Sometimes it's my schedule ... or  someone else's. Sometimes it's circumstances (like getting stranded at Publix). And sometimes it's a craving and a recipe.

Um... a recipe?

Yes. A recipe.

You see, I love Indian food. Samosas. Chicken Tikka Masala. Lentil Soup. Things made with goat and curry and ingredients I can't readily identify.

Sing with me now ... These are a few of my favorite things!

But I don't really dare trying to make anything that exotic at home. I'm a Nervous Nellie when it comes to cooking ethnic foods. I figure there's always something the recipe isn't telling you, that I would know instinctively if my name were different. But I'm one of "you white people" as one of my Indian friends calls me. So I feed my cravings at various Indian restaurants in the area.

A few days ago I logged onto AllRecipes.com and I saw this:

Their featured recipe was Curry Stand Chicken Tikka Masala in all its day-glo organge glory. Five stars out of five, based on 111 reviews.

Side note: The reviews are always my litmus test. If I'm looking at two recipes and one has 5 stars based on 500 reviews and one has 5 stars based on 2, I'll go with the 500. Call me a sheep. I don't care.

Do I dare? 

Summer@Home Day 12 — Not Stranded Anywhere

Day 12
I haven't driven since February 10 due to a medical condition. Many days I have felt trapped in my own house. There have been days I not only didn't go anywhere ... I didn't step outside.

Today was not one of those days, although it easily could have been.

My husband left for Maine today. Our oldest is graduating from high school on Sunday — long story as to why I'm not going, too — so I'm at home with the other kiddos for 48 hours and no wheels. Did we sit around the house all day?

Nope.

Summer@Home: Day 6 — Stranded at Publix

Day 6
Have you ever been stranded somewhere? It's a pretty helpless feeling. To have somewhere to go, but no way to get there?

Yesterday, Day 6 of my Summer@Home, I got stranded at Publix. Not on purpose, but kind of out of necessity. You see, grocery shopping these days is a "do it when you have the opportunity" kind of thing. The trips are not always planned. Sometimes the opportunity just kind of  pops up, and you  run with it.

Summer@Home Day 3: UPS Drivers, Beware!

Day 3

My friends are coming to my rescue in various ways during my Summer@Home. My dear friend Cathy invited Joshua and Jordan to join her boys for tennis lessons and do all the driving. [Shout out to Cathy! Lifesaver! Doin' the happy dance!]

Yesterday, I was able to break from work and go watch, which was a treat. I'd never seen either of them play. I was surprised at how naturally it came to them. They were doing quite well, and it was just their second lesson. And I got to sit in the shade, sip iced tea, and chat with other moms. Heaven...

But when we got home, I almost died laughing. And I soooo wish I'd taken a picture. But outside our garage door, it looked something like this:

Summer@Home - Day 1

Day 1
My summer at home has officially begun. School let out five days ago, so most people might consider that the official beginning of summer. But for me, summer began today — the day my husband went back to work in the office and I stayed home.

If you don't know me, you may not realize the significance of this. I have not driven since February 9, 2013. On February 10 I had the first of a series of fainting and dizzy spells that occurred multiple times a day for a month until my doctors were able to get a partial diagnosis and find medicines that would help. I passed out for the last time on March 13, so I am not allowed to drive again until I have gone six months without an episode. September 13 is my magic date.

So with school out, and my husband back at work, I'm starting a new — albeit short — phase of my life. At home. All day. Every day. All...summer...long.

Showing His divine sense of humor, and just in case I was thinking about cheating, God decided to call my car home a couple of weeks ago. So even if I wanted to, I couldn't hop in my car and take an illicit jaunt to the grocery store or ice cream stand.

I am truly stuck.

Kill me.

Reclaiming My Mornings

I'm on vacation right now. I'm spending three weeks of my summer in Maine visiting my husband's home state and many of his relatives. It's kind of a last hurrah because his parents are selling their house here to move closer to us.

Side note: Apparently, Maine ... as a state ... has a short attention span. On the day before the first day of summer, it was about 75 degrees. NOT summer, by my Hotlanta standards. Then, on June 20 ... the first day of summer ... whoa, Nelly! It was 91 degrees. We had three ... count 'em THREE ... days of 80+ degree weather before spring returned and I put on sweaters again. My father-in-law tells the story of a visitor to his medical office who asked a nurse what "Mainers" do in the summer. Her response: "Well, if it happens on a weekend, we have a picnic." Our summer long-weekend happened on a Wednesday - Friday, but we managed to have a picnic anyway.

OK. Back to my purpose in writing this.

I may be on vacation, but I am already dreaming of getting home. Why? Because I'm going to make some fundamental changes about how I spend my time.

You may be asking, "Why, pray tell, would you do that?"

Well, thank you for asking. Because I feel guilty as all get-out. I just finished a teeny-tiny Kindle book called What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast. It took all of about two hours to read ... and frankly would have taken less than that if I'd read it in a single sitting ... but it's got my mind churning about all of the time I waste. In a day. In a week. In a year. In the last 40 years.