I’m lonely coming off our family vacation. Mike is working. Esther is back to studying and going off to adoration at the catholic church every day. She misses her college friends and the camaraderie that comes with being surrounded by deep thinkers. Sophia spent this week lying on her makeshift bed in the playroom watching short videos on her phone and group chatting with her friends from Georgia. Basil had his last week of surveyor work with its twelve-hour shifts. Jonah stayed in bed reading. Justin and Xenia flitted about the house and yard following their own mysterious routines. I went back to my summer hobbies.
My favorite moment of the trip with the very last evening. I had started getting ready for bed when Mike came to get me. Esther, Sophia, Jonah, Justin, and Xenia were all back at the second condo. Mark Buckles and Basil had gone to their respective rooms in ours. The kitchen and living room were dark. Mike led me out to the back balcony and put his arm around my waist as we looked out into the black night. The white caps on the incoming waves broke the darkness of the sea from the black sand. The flashlights of beach walkers, distant twinkles from distant ships, and warning flashes from the jetty just north of Mexico were but flickering fireflies in an empty field.
Mike and I reminisced about the adventures of our South Padre, Texas, Gulf Coast vacation. That’s my favorite moment because the whole purpose of the vacation was to make one more remember when. As the kids get older and go their separate ways who knows which of these vacations will be the last time we were all together. One day all that will be possible will be the remember when’s. It’s my favorite moment because it was spent with Mike. As he held me, as we gazed out into the night, the beach-scented breeze carried the whisper of the waves from the sand six floors below us, and I felt beloved.
That evening we had sat around the dining room table playing Obscurio. Esther was the clue giver, and I was the traitor. They had stolen my victory by one point, but I didn’t mind losing. I felt rich in memories. The heated arguments and laughter. Esther’s face-palm at her siblings’ reactions. Justin’s random comment, “It smells like I’m going to need a lot of rice with that.” I wish family life was always like sitting around the table playing a board game together.
Mike didn’t go on any of our beach adventures that involved swimming or being on the sand, so I filled him in on our snorkeling trip. Esther and Sophia and I handed Basil the glitter sunscreen and giggled as we waited for an outrage that didn’t come. Basil was too comfortable in his masculinity though he threatened to throw us overboard if we didn’t stop laughing. He was smirking himself when he handed the tube off to Jonah.
The water was only five feet deep. We set about swimming in all directions, and I saw Sophia stand up before she yelled, “I saw a big fish!”
A moment later there were calls from all around the boat as the rest of us also exclaimed, “I saw a big fish!”
I chased two catfish each a foot and half long. Swimming after them had all the thrill of chasing ducks in the park, without the guilt. Justin touched a couple of them. Esther saw a sea slug and I swam with Xenia for a while, looking where she pointed out clams and other beautiful shells. Basil and Jonah wrestled on the water trampoline. I tried to join Basil, Jonah, Xenia, and Justin on the water teeter-totter but didn’t have the upper body strength to climb up. We ate hot dogs and hamburgers and got sunburned on our backs. Turns out the glitter sunscreen didn’t have a high SPF.
Mike also missed our surfboard lessons. I had gotten some tips from my friend Jacob Camargo in Vancouver, Washington who taught me the right technique for jumping to standing from lying flat on the board. The stance the surf teacher recommended was like the fighting stance taught in my boxing lessons. The abs workout at the boxing gym might also have been helpful. Everything worked together to make my surfing experience a total success. I got up on my first try and rode the waves almost all the way back to the beach. Then I got lost because I didn’t have my glasses but was able to take a couple of pictures of the kids once I had gotten out of the water. All seven of us made it up at least once. The kids and I want to go back for a surfing vacation someday.
Jonah, Xenia, Justin, and I spent hours wishing for surfboards as we splashed in the ocean any chance we had. The waves tickled bubbling laughter from me just as they had off the coast of Florida. There were little fish in the water and sandbars that let us wade out in alternating deep and shallow places, and the water was so warm and comfortable. I looked up towards our sixth-floor balcony for Mike every so often.
He sat out there to enjoy the view some of the time. He and Esther spent many an evening smoking cigars and drinking cognac. They discussed deep philosophical thoughts and figured their way through a mathematical prisoner problem.
Mike was with us on the dolphin-watch boat ride. I spent the whole time taking pictures of the kids when I wasn’t hiding in the shaded center of the boat feeling motion sick. I made Esther pose like she was reading her book after I interrupted her reading. Then I asked her to pose like she was looking at a dolphin, but she totally refused since there weren’t any dolphins out yet. Jonah and Justin stayed with me inside for a few minutes before asking if they could leave.
“Sure, you can go,” I told them, “As long as you stay on the boat.”
They smiled, thought for a moment, and then rolled their eyes. They spent most of the trip at the front of the boat being sprayed by mist and getting the full effect of the ups and downs of each wave.
After taking pictures of each of the kids and a selfie with Mike and me and pictures of the dolphins, I spent the rest of the time trying to get selfies with dolphins in the background.
Esther humored me by yelling, “Now!” when the dolphins jumped up because I had my back to the water.
We had delicious meals every night, and one evening walk on the beach with everyone. The family picture from that night may be on our Christmas cards this year.
The kids did some things separate like horseback riding, bungy slingshot, and zip lining.
Mike and I had only a few of the kids for the sunset boat ride. He and I spent a lot of the time trying to get the perfect couple selfie and got a lot of great shots. I love that we still look so cute together even after twenty-five years.
Back on the balcony Mike and I kissed and looked out again at the dark night sky. I am so thankful to have Mike as my husband. The kids are growing up and going their own ways, but Mike and I still have each other.
This afternoon I sat in the music room typing away at this story, humming “Cats in the Cradle” by Harry Chapin, and looking up when the kids ran past me out to their cars or to the backyard. Whenever they stopped to check in for a quick goodbye or a hug, I reminded them of some of the fun parts of our vacation. That made them pause and smile. Having those moments of connection now that we are back at home is the reason that I love family vacations.
If you are curious about the prisoner problem that Mike and Esther worked out, here it is: There are one hundred prisoners numbered one to one hundred. Prisoner one goes into a room with one hundred boxes numbered one to one hundred, and he’s allowed to open fifty of them in any order. The boxes contain slips of paper numbered one to one hundred placed into the boxes randomly. Prisoner one is trying to find the slip of paper with his own number (number one) on it, but he might not be successful since he can only open fifty boxes. If he succeeds, then he puts everything back the way he found it and leaves the room through a different exit. Then prisoner two comes in with the same mission to find the slip of paper with the number two. If all one hundred prisoners find their own number, then they will all be set free. If even one of the prisoners fails, they will all be executed. The prisoners who have searched the boxes can not communicate with the other prisoners or change anything, but they are allowed to come up with a strategy before they start. If the prisoners choose boxes randomly, their chance of success is 2-100 which equals 0.00000000000000000000000000008%. Not so good. However, rumor has it that there exists a strategy whereby their chances increase to 31%. Here’s a link to the answer if you don’t want to smoke cigars and drink cognac to puzzle it out for yourself.
The Riddle That Seems Impossible Even If You Know The Answer – YouTube
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