Everyone has heard the old adage “When life gives you lemons, simply make lemonade”. I have quiet a story for you here. As I might have mentioned here I had planned a very special vacation with my very special Memphis family.
As fate would have it this vacation was planned almost a year ago. We were all headed down to Mexico, Acapulco, to be specific in the summer. Well here comes the swine flu and Mexico was all but closed. We moved our trip to the first week of Feb. If you were in Memphis that week you know it snowed and iced on the last Thursday in January. Our flight to Houston to catch the flight to ACA was canceled. My wife jumped on the phone and began desperately trying to save this trip. She started looking for options, and finally were able to get a plan B. If we could drive to Jackson Mississippi on Saturday, we could catch a Sunday morning flight out of there connect in Houston and be in Sunny Acapulco by two pm. We were all over it.
I jumped on line and started trying to find a 12 passenger van I could rent here and drop off there. Every car and van rental company in Memphis was out of cars and vans!! What were we to do? I finally found a van but it had to be returned to Memphis, Light at the end of the tunnel I thought there is a way. I knew I was not going to allow Captain Crash, my son, to return the van lord knows I could not have slept for 3 days if that were the case. I call one of the family who came up with an amazing idea. He had access to a van and he thought he had access to a driver. This is looking better by the minute. He made some calls and sure enough it was going to work. We headed out the next afternoon at noon piled into this van and down 55 we went. One of the family had made, munchies, Tuna salad, pimento cheese. We had Brownies, Rice crispy treats and then came the real fun. The group had Mimosa’s and Screwdrivers, as well. I can tell you honestly I have never enjoyed a drive more than this 3 hours. A group of like minded adults simply driving to a place, to go to a place, so we cold be together for a week. It was magical. We arrived in Jackson safe and sound, got all checked in, and opened up some wine. As we thought about dinner we order pizza and salads and sat around drinking wine and having a blast. The dinner order is another post all together, as it was simply a CF if you will. Leave it to say the poor driver had to come back to our hotel 3 times!!! And the really cool thing about it was we just didn’t care so much. So we all got up the next morning and headed to our destination. We had a very uneventful trip to one of the coolest places I have ever been. We spent a week bonding, eating, drinking and simply enjoy being together. I will explain this place in more detail very soon here. But I have said all of this to get to this point. As we sat around on the last night there the question was asked what was your most special memory of this trip? As it when around the couches with all of us full from an amazing dinner sitting looking out at one of the most beautiful scenes I have ever seen, with the breezes blows lightly across our faces full of joy. This is a breeze that makes you forget your troubles, and makes you feel like you are wrapped in the arms of someone who loves you unconditionally.
In all families you have your nick name, same in ours. As the stories of best time of the week go around we come to the very special person we call “Baby Girl”. Now this is an angel that walks the earth. I have known a lot of people in my life but no one like her. She possess a heart of Gold, an eye for your needs, and always there to support and love you without question. She has had her trials, but through it all she has never lost her attitude. I wished I could bottle just a little bit of her and keep it for when I’m feeling a little down. She always spins whatever it is into the best possible circumstance. As you will see as I continue the story.
We get to "Baby Girl" she says I think the best time I had was the drive and the joy of being together on that trip to Jackson. As we all sat there looking out we suddenly all agreeded she had hit the highlight of the trip. We agreeded that without question that special trip down was the thing that set the tone for the entire vacation. I think it is best said in a text we all got from her.
“When life gives you lemons you make lemonade. When life gives you snow, drive around it. If everyone had a friend, that had the ability to get a van, who could find a driver, who would make a 3 hour drive so much fun, because with this friend, who has the van, who found the driver, we are on our way to sunny Acapulco with mimosa’s, screwdriver's and munchies. Now… that’s making lemonade ...”
Proving once again how truly blessed I am. As I sit here writing this in a house that is colder than I like. I simply close my eyes and go back to that special trip. May I always have the ability and the sense to make lemonade this sweet.
Peace,
The Blessed Man
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