When most
people say they are going on vacation that usually means rest, relaxation, fun
and quality time with family and friends.
That’s at least what I expected when I decided to visit my grandparents,
with my parents, in New Bern, NC. But
vacation wasn’t exactly what I got.
I consider
myself to be pretty lucky as I am fortunate enough to be in my thirties and
still have my gram and pap on my mom’s side still alive and kicking. The only time I really get to spend time with
them is when they come up here twice a year.
In fact, I think the last time I was down there was about six years
ago. So when my parent’s told me that
they were going down for eight days over spring break, I figured I should
really make the effort and go with them.
Picture it…
My mom, dad,
their 60lb dog and me all traveling 9 hours in a car together to visit my 85
year old grandparent’s in their retirement town! Not to mention the fact that my parent’s
waited until the last minute to tell me that “oh by the way, you (meaning me)
and dad are going to be re-doing gram’s kitchen.” WHAT?!
My parent’s
picked me up at 3 a.m. on Friday morning.
That actually worked out quite well for me. I worked at the bar all day on Thursday and
decided to stay a little late and have a few cocktails. By the time they picked me up, I had a nice
little buzz going for me and I crawled in the back seat and passed out for 7.5
hours. When we arrived, grammy and pap
were super excited to see us. The rest
of the day, we just sat around and chatted and got a good old-fashioned Domino’s
game going. Then it was time for bed….I’m a 6’ tall woman
and they have me sleeping in a twin-sized bed with a mattress that is literally
over 50 years old. It was my mother’s
bed when she was a girl. The next day I
woke up and dad immediately had me working on the kitchen. Removing all the doors and hardware and
taking everything out to the garage where he began to sand everything
down. The next day, we moved into the
kitchen and sanded everything down in there.
The day after that, we primed everything and the following day, we
painted everything. Then I had the fun
task of scrubbing all of the hardware and repainting those. Finally, we got a day off where we went to
the beach and did lots of antiquing (I love antiquing so this was a good
day). Oh and keep in mind too, that I
had 7 trade shows happening coast-to-coast during this “weeks’ vacation” so I
was constantly having to check email and take phone calls to help people
out. Then the highlight to my days came each
night when I had the pleasure of taking my family’s money during Domino’s (this
was awesome). We then gathered in the
family room to watch about an hour of TV - on mute - (pap doesn’t like the noise) and then off to
my bed that was way too small with its 50 year old mattress for little to no
sleep. Good times right? I was literally counting the seconds until we
left for home.
Don’t get me
wrong, I adore my grandparent’s and parent’s and I like hanging out with them
and playing Domino’s but spending eight days with them on no sleep while
re-doing their kitchen and taking care of stuff for my “big girl” job…that was
no vacation. It was kind of like
hell. JK! I am glad to be back though. I missed my
hubby and my normal, busy routine.
