I am going to try to write a vacation-related post every day this week. It won’t be a diary per se, but I think I can come up with at least five amusing entries. And at the end I will share my thoughts on The Sopranos.
We set the alarm for 4:00 AM so we could make our flight on Saturday. The good news about the early start was that we flew in to Myrtle Beach before noon. The bad news was that the rental place wasn’t ready for us until about 2:30. We really needed to get to the “home base” for the kids’ sake, so it was a bit trying waiting for the realty place to give us the key. We stopped at the grocery store first to pick up some things, some of which were eventually eaten and some of which were thrown out at the end of the week and wasted. I myself wasted about a half gallon of milk by backing the rental car over a styrofoam cooler with ice that I had bought to preserve the food until we could get inside the condo. It was funny, aggravating, and embarrassing at the same time, although I was too exhausted at that point to react much at all. Dennise's mom was able to salvage what was left of the milk. I thought the container had exploded, but I had just crumpled it a bit. At the store I got the week's beer, including a case of Natural Lite, which I associate with that part of the country. The kids were really great throughout all the travels the first day. When their grandparents arrived, we went to a hotdog stand near the beach for lunch, which looking back I think is one of the better memories of the trip. I think there is always something special about the first moments of a vacation, like the first time you see the beach, the first time you step on the strip, or the first time you check out the rental, get settled, and have that first beer. Everything is new and different and you are excited with the anticipation of the entire week ahead of you. The hot dogs and the cold beer were good, too.
We were all able to sit together on the first leg of the flight, but the second plane from Atlanta to Myrtle only had two seats in each row. Dennise was going to sit with Syd in the pair of seats on the right side of the plane and I was going to hold Drew on my lap in the single seat on the left side of the plane. Because there were fewer oxygen masks on the left side of the plane, however, the lap baby had to be on the right side. That meant Dennise had to have both kids. Syd slept and Drew was well-behaved, so it actually worked out quite well, but we were a little nervous about the whole idea.
I sat in the front row seated next to an army colonel named Mike who was returning from Iraq on two weeks’ leave. Mike had actually entered the gate with us and helped us by carrying our stroller down the passage. Before the stewardess made Drew move, Mike showed a real interest in Drew, even holding him for me while I buckled my seatbelt. I told him that I thought it must be good luck for Drew. We chatted for the entire trip, and I had the fortune of meeting a very remarkable person. We talked about our families and our jobs, and I was in awe of the fact that he commanded a brigade of nearly 4,000 people, which are more people than are employed at my company. Most people can’t imagine even serving in Iraq. It was hard for me to fathom doing so and also have such an incredible amount of responsibility. I think everyone cares deeply about those who serve this country, in that they are members of families just like ours. I had never been so deeply struck by the quality of people who serve this country, though. Leaders such as this would do very well in the private sector, but they choose to do much tougher work. Mike talked just as easily about the three provinces in Iraq he covers and the Iraqis he works with as he did about his wife and two kids, who I felt I knew by the time the plane landed.
I found this news article about Mike this morning. He is stationed at FOB Kalsu, named after Bob Kalsu of the Buffalo Bills, the only active pro football player to have been killed in Vietnam.
http://community.adn.com/?q=adn/node/105222
That night we had dinner at a place along the beach that we were able to walk to. Syd had a blast running up and down the beach. On our way back, she got down on all fours and somehow ended up face first in the sand. Her mouth was characteristically open. We cleaned her off the best we could and she was back to “normal.” We have a few pictures of her sandy face. She looks like the worst “Survivor” contestant ever.
We set the alarm for 4:00 AM so we could make our flight on Saturday. The good news about the early start was that we flew in to Myrtle Beach before noon. The bad news was that the rental place wasn’t ready for us until about 2:30. We really needed to get to the “home base” for the kids’ sake, so it was a bit trying waiting for the realty place to give us the key. We stopped at the grocery store first to pick up some things, some of which were eventually eaten and some of which were thrown out at the end of the week and wasted. I myself wasted about a half gallon of milk by backing the rental car over a styrofoam cooler with ice that I had bought to preserve the food until we could get inside the condo. It was funny, aggravating, and embarrassing at the same time, although I was too exhausted at that point to react much at all. Dennise's mom was able to salvage what was left of the milk. I thought the container had exploded, but I had just crumpled it a bit. At the store I got the week's beer, including a case of Natural Lite, which I associate with that part of the country. The kids were really great throughout all the travels the first day. When their grandparents arrived, we went to a hotdog stand near the beach for lunch, which looking back I think is one of the better memories of the trip. I think there is always something special about the first moments of a vacation, like the first time you see the beach, the first time you step on the strip, or the first time you check out the rental, get settled, and have that first beer. Everything is new and different and you are excited with the anticipation of the entire week ahead of you. The hot dogs and the cold beer were good, too.
We were all able to sit together on the first leg of the flight, but the second plane from Atlanta to Myrtle only had two seats in each row. Dennise was going to sit with Syd in the pair of seats on the right side of the plane and I was going to hold Drew on my lap in the single seat on the left side of the plane. Because there were fewer oxygen masks on the left side of the plane, however, the lap baby had to be on the right side. That meant Dennise had to have both kids. Syd slept and Drew was well-behaved, so it actually worked out quite well, but we were a little nervous about the whole idea.
I sat in the front row seated next to an army colonel named Mike who was returning from Iraq on two weeks’ leave. Mike had actually entered the gate with us and helped us by carrying our stroller down the passage. Before the stewardess made Drew move, Mike showed a real interest in Drew, even holding him for me while I buckled my seatbelt. I told him that I thought it must be good luck for Drew. We chatted for the entire trip, and I had the fortune of meeting a very remarkable person. We talked about our families and our jobs, and I was in awe of the fact that he commanded a brigade of nearly 4,000 people, which are more people than are employed at my company. Most people can’t imagine even serving in Iraq. It was hard for me to fathom doing so and also have such an incredible amount of responsibility. I think everyone cares deeply about those who serve this country, in that they are members of families just like ours. I had never been so deeply struck by the quality of people who serve this country, though. Leaders such as this would do very well in the private sector, but they choose to do much tougher work. Mike talked just as easily about the three provinces in Iraq he covers and the Iraqis he works with as he did about his wife and two kids, who I felt I knew by the time the plane landed.
I found this news article about Mike this morning. He is stationed at FOB Kalsu, named after Bob Kalsu of the Buffalo Bills, the only active pro football player to have been killed in Vietnam.
http://community.adn.com/?q=adn/node/105222
That night we had dinner at a place along the beach that we were able to walk to. Syd had a blast running up and down the beach. On our way back, she got down on all fours and somehow ended up face first in the sand. Her mouth was characteristically open. We cleaned her off the best we could and she was back to “normal.” We have a few pictures of her sandy face. She looks like the worst “Survivor” contestant ever.
No comments:
Post a Comment