6:42

When we were little...we went to Florida on spring break every-single-year...except one and then we went to Myrtle Beach and I got the chicken pox the day before we left. Let me tell you how fun it is to be in the middle of the backseat of a 4 door sedan between 2 sisters who make you sit on the floor while they relax on the seat for TWO DAYS WHILE ITCHING OUT OF CONTROL.

Oh sure, life has changed. My parents go to Florida every year without us. My sisters go on fancier vacations with their own families to places like St. Maarten or San Francisco. But my parents still go to Florida. And yes, they still drive and knowing my mom the backseat is full of coolers full of egg salad sandwiches and Diet Caffeine Free Coke so they don't have to stop but to go to the bathroom.

A lot of stuff happened in the back of the car. My sisters got in fights. We yelled directions on how to fast forward to the next song on the Policy - Synchronicity soundtrack to my mother. We tried really hard to behave so my dad would let us listen to our music instead of his. I learned how to tie my own shoes. Both of my sisters told me that it was time for me to start wearing deodorant. OH...and they tore my favorite end off of my blanket and threw it out the window somewhere along the way too.

Then there is Daytona Beach and The Sun Viking Lodge. In Daytona, there is the restaurant that my sister passed out in and the boy my sister Julie met on the beach. There is the disgusting fish dinner WHEN THE FISH CAME OUT WITH A HEAD STILL ON IT and the Critter Fleet deep sea fishing. There are countless cases of sunburn and images of myself on a rollaway bed in a hotel in Burea, Kentucky watching The Greatest American Hero sharing a room with my entire family. There is Entemann's coffee cake, little boxes of sugar cereal (a special treat ONLY for vacation) and Tang (barf). There are the trips to Disney World/Epcot when we got there after breakfast and left before dinner...and the fights on what was appropriate to wear to the park. There is the fight for the air conditioning instead of having the windows down and the song "We Are The World" being broadcast simultaneously on all of the radio station in the 80's. Oh...and the 6:42 A.M. departure. There are souvenirs and postcards and shells found on the beach.

This week...Golfdad, Jeepers, Susie & I will be starting our own "family vacation" tradition. Things are a little different...instead of sitting in the car for 2 days, we will be sitting in the very last row of an airplane. We will be trying our best to keep our children from crying, sweating profusely, while feeding them pop and candy. There will be stressful security screenings, angry passengers, overloaded baggage claim areas and shady rental car attendants. There will be a few meltdowns, a barf or two and some whining. There will be grandparents, Mickey Mouse, a cruise ship and a first ride on Space Mountain.

But most of all there will be memories...and hopefully...a whole lotta fun.

Happy Spring Break!

xo -- B.M.