The condo is quiet this morning. The stillness in sharp contrast to previous mornings, coffee time interrupted by drowsy bodies slowly filtering in from their rooms seeking food, coffee, and connection at the beginning of the day.
By 11am most mornings, even the late risers had joined the group to gather in our condo for Mario Cart, Facebook, email, and morning talk shows. Despite the fact that the morning routine began before 8am, not once was the group assembled in its entirety to leave before noon. Inevitably, if we were able to gather seven together, as the last two would arrive, one or two of the originally gathered would find reason to leave and the wait would continue.
Lesson learned: Gathering 9 people is like herding cats. – institute a Buddy System next time.
Beach Volleyball, grocery shopping, Wits and Wagers, movies in, Mario Cart, Heads Up!, puzzles, paddle boarding, Word on the Street, movies out, high ropes courses, shopping, zip lining, Nertz, golf, pool time, jigsaw puzzles, deep sea fishing and more grocery shopping. No time for reading, writing, or resting.
Lesson learned: Teenagers are high energy. – think “like vacation with toddlers” and rest before you leave home.
I’m not certain exactly what our expectations were for this week when we originally started planning. Over the months, the plan morphed several times. Friends were invited, accepted and declined. Rooms were added, subtracted, and added back in again. At one point there were 14 possible attendees on the list and we were talking about buying air mattresses. At another time, we didn’t know if anyone would be joining us at all and we considered auctioning off the two extra condos. Somehow it all worked out perfectly, three condos, six kids, one aunt, and the two of us.
Lesson learned: Trust the process. – everything is just as it should be.
And now the realization sinks in that we will be packing tonight for an early morning departure and except for missing my oldest child, no part of me wishes this week to end. To remain in this energy of laughter, love, acceptance, and peace is my strongest desire and for this chance, I am filled with gratitude. I will be returning home physically exhausted but emotionally energized.
Lesson learned: Life is good. -savor every minute.
Being Mindfully Me 