My Dream House

Every year, I get to stay in my dream house for a week. It's not always the same dream house (except last year when we stayed in the same house as the year before), but that doesn't matter. It's still a dream, and I always wish I never had to leave. Since 1996, we've stayed in a big, luxurious house on the Outer Banks of North Carolina for a week, minus the year we moved here to Pittsburgh. Despite the tiffs caused by having family together in one house for that length of time, it's a week of bliss. In two weeks, I'll be there, and I can't wait. I'd leave now if I weren't a semi-responsible mother.

We leave in less than two weeks. I'm always a little nervous about the first day when we figure out who gets what room. We seem to have problems with room assignments every other year, which means this is a bad year. Someone doesn't get a room up to their standards and proceeds to bitch and moan about it. Hopefully all will work out well and the disgruntled family member spell will be broken. I won't hold my breath about that though.

We have a tendency to get stuck in the lesser of rooms because we don't bitch and moan about our assignment. Mostly, we're just happy to be there and enjoy the other amenities of the house, but it isn't especially convenient when you don't have a dresser in which to store your clothes or have to share a bathroom or don't have room for the kids to sleep without a kid carpet on the floor. I don't need a whirlpool tub. We never use the thing anyway, but I would like a comfortable room that accommodates my family and not have to be crammed in a room while others have room to spare. So there is a little bit of dread going into this thing, especially with some of the changes in attendees.

Once I get settled in and visit that beach, all will be well. I could sleep on the porch all week and be happy down there. Hell, I'm thinking about doing that right now! I'd gladly leave today with the clothes on my back and sleep in the hammocks of empty houses, wash my clothes in the ocean and take just enough money to eat a little, because I could stand to lose a few pounds. I'm sure that would get old pretty quickly but no older than household chores. I could make it twelve days.

This year I am planning on doing less and relaxing more. I'm tired of running around so much that I hardly get to lay around or shopping so much that we physically ache at the sight of our checking balance. I want to drink, walk the beach, lie by the pool, swim, skate, run, sit in the hot tub and hang out. I want to spend some time alone particularly without kids. It's a vacation, and I'm going to live it that way instead of doing what I always do and working.