Daily Gratitude: Vacation

Last week I turned 29, and blogged about how I was going to update daily with something that I was grateful for…..um, yeah….that didn't happen.

 

It's not that I do not have a myriad of things to be grateful for but rather I have little time to capture the moments in this medium. I file the memories away in the corners of my mind and my heart with every intention of sharing them each evening. But there is dinner to make, aerobics class to teach,  a little girl who wants me to spin her around the living room while we listen to praise music, and a handsome husband's whose strong arms beckon me to cuddle just a few more moments…..and so I don't turn on my computer, download the picture, and release the torrent of words that I wish to share.

In the past, I would have felt guilty, offered my profuse apologies and vowed to get back on track. However, I am learning that I often make grand plans and promises that I can not keep.  Instead, of re-pledging to post daily, I am simply going to tell you that over the next year I will be sharing my moments of gratitude.

 

Let's start now. I am grateful for my upcoming vacation. Spring and summer are very busy seasons for our family. Since we own a blueberry farm, we spent March, April, and May carefully tending the blueberry fields – watering, fertilizing, pruning, weeding, and protecting those tender buds from late spring frost.  As the May flowers begin to wilt under the June heat, the blueberry bushes bring forth their fruit and "picking season" go into full swing.

 

For you non-farmer types, picking season is the 6 to 8 weeks where the crop is ripening and we spend every spare second we have working to bring that crop to market.  Picking season is hectic on full-time farmers, but for us full-time farmers with full-time real jobs it is utter chaos. A normal week during picking season, has the men of the family on tractors from 5:00 p.m. until 1:00 a.m. or later.  My sister-in-law, mother-in-law and I like to joke that we are "widows" during picking seasons, as we only see our husbands long enough to say good morning, scarf down a bite of supper, and good night.

 

Picking season can leave me feeling disjointed and disconnected from M. And so, each year we plan a week long escape at the end of the season. It is a time to reconnect and regroup both as individuals, as a couple, and now as a family.

 

This year, M and I are taking Joycie to Chattanooga. We have rented a cabin just 45 minutes south of the city.  It's a quaint two room cabin situated on a shimmering lake.  We have plans to take Joycie to the Tennessee Aquarium and the Chattanooga Zoo. But those are the only plans we have made. We intend on spending the rest of the time just hanging out – lounging in our pajamas while enjoying a pancake breakfast, taking long walks around the lake, and maybe dancing around the living room.