It is the little things…………
I just spent a weekend with my kids. Yes, all 3 of them! It is hard to do these days. One is married with his own family, one is a young adult, and one splits her time between mom and dad. So getting all 3 of them together is a chore in itself. Now, to get them all to have a weekend off and to WANT to spend it with their mom, that is a whole different story. But the stars were aligned, and God blessed me with 3 days full of my kids and grandkids. We all met at our place in Mexico to just relax. We had nothing planned and just went with the flow. We ate at the pool bar, or a restaurant at the resort, or simply snacked on whatever we wanted.
Our first night we opted to eat at one of the restaurants on site. It was all you can eat pasta night, so all 8 of us enjoyed dinner together. Once back at the condo, the little ones wanted to watch a movie and the rest of us played several rounds of Phase 10. I didn’t remember that a card game could be so hilarious. We laughed to the point of tears, then took a break to put the littles to bed and played on for a bit. Once we were too tired to play another hand, everyone went off to bed, happy and comfy under one roof.
The next morning my oldest, up before everyone else, went to the local grocery store and bought items he needed to cook us all a wonderful breakfast. We laid on the beach, where I watched my daughter-in-law run with my two granddaughters in and out of the waves. I watched my daughter play with her brother and sister-in-law and nieces in and around the water. I watched my middle son relax on a towel, suntanning and reading, something he hasn’t done in quite a while. When we had enough of the beach, we had lunch at the pool bar.
While we waited on the food, the kids went to the water slide a couple of times, arriving at lunch wet, happy, and tired. After lunch, we promised the girls another trip down the water slide and then I sat in the condo reading while they napped. The big kids went to the pool together to hang out, enjoying each other, sun and fun without having baby duty. Seeing them all come in together wet and glowing from the sun and fun warmed my heart.
Such different dynamics as they grow. It is rare that all 3 of them get along at the same time; there is always something they find to bicker about or pick on each other about. And sometimes that is okay when done with and in love, but as I get older, it tends to just get on my nerves.
They share moments and talk to each other when mom is not around. I am in awe of their relationships.
We opt to run out and bring back our favorite “pollo” and eat in our second night. The littles run around showing us how to “hula hoot” with diving rings. We invent games with a small beach ball we found on our patio. The bigger kids pick up another game of Phase 10 for a bit. We don’t make it as late this night as we are all worn out from all the sun and fun.
Sunday finds us each getting up at a different time. A couple enjoy their coffee on the patio watching the ocean and people watching along the beach. Some sleep a little later. We laze around, drinking our coffee, tea or juice, eating muffins and just being. The girls have their “hula hoot” going again. Now we have their daddy trying it, oh to have a video camera handy.
I start some clean up and laundry. We shower at leisure, pack our bags and decide we are going into town to show the girls the fishing village, maybe do a little shopping and get some shrimp to take home. We stop two places looking for a friend, a local we met years ago. We are unable to find him, so we head to the Malecon and do a little shopping. A lovely floppy sun hat for me and one for my daughter-in-law. We decide on a lunch place, enjoying the ocean breeze, the music they are playing, watching the girls play with balloons hooked to a straw courtesy of the bartender, and each other. We can people watch from where we are lunching, so we stay for a couple of hours. We head out and haggle over shrimp prices, settle on a price per pound and how many pounds, and wait while they clean it for us to take home. We make a pit stop to say hello to another long time local friend, enjoy our quick hello and hugs all around and walk back to our cars.
Although much too quick, the weekend is over and it is time to head home. As we part at the condo, the girls tucked in for naps, my son and daughter-in-law headed to the patio to enjoy some quiet time and each other, and the rest of us piling in the car for the drive home, I realize I am hugely blessed.
I take so much for granted and forget to stop and appreciate all the little things life gives us. As you read through this post I am sure you were thinking, “how boring,” “yeah, so what?” But I wanted to show that in the big picture, the weekend was nothing special. But to me it was everything. Besides warming my heart, and making me feel special, it made me realize how much I did NOT lose in my divorce. It is nice to be reminded from time to time to focus on what we DO have and not what we don’t have.