December 2002, 5 months after our wedding, we went on our honeymoon. My husband found a great deal on Expedia. A decent all-inclusive in Cozumel. It was perfect. Quite possibly the best vacation in my adult life.
We vowed, from that day forward, we’d go on a vacation once a year. Just the two of us. Because we decided it should be so. Therefore, it should happen.
Riiight.
Fast forward 10 years.
Since those perfect 5 days, exactly 10 years ago this month, there has been one mini-vacation. Three years ago. When I was given a Lincoln MKT to test drive and we went to the Leelanau Peninsula and test drove wine…er…the car.
Three years ago. Closing in on four years. And lots of events later.
I’m sure that, like so many of you, the money tree branches are barren. There is an occasional growth which is picked and immediately taken by something called Bills or Necessities.
Those little luxuries like Parent Vacations, which we promised ourselves would happen ONCE A YEAR, continue to remain elusive. Just when we think we have some money saved up, something breaks or someone needs something.
So yeah. It has yet to happen.
Oh, how I long for ocean, palm trees, sipping drinks while trying to keep my hair, which is blowing in the salty air, from mixing in with my fruit kebob. Not to mention, longing for hanging out with my husband without interruption from these people who call us names like “Mom” and “Dad”. I mean, where did they come from anyways? Wait…don’t answer that. I already know.
So, the other day, I was about to throw out this big bear tub that was home to animal crackers which…my dog somehow ate them all…
But, I looked at this thing and thought that it was too cute to throw away. What can I do with it, instead of having it take up space in a landfill?
Then it struck me in a voice that sounded like my husbands. Actually, I’m thinking it may have been my husband that came up with this master plan…
Use it to throw all our change in and let’s save up for that dream vacation. And by dream vacation I mean just getting on a plane and going somewhere without the kids. Well, not just anywhere…there must be ocean, palm trees, lounge chairs and fruity drinks. That’s all. I’m not picky.
We immediately got to work to set our plan in motion. I cleaned out my purse of my change. He cleaned out something else that housed spare change. We felt between couch cushions. I went into my kids rooms and picked up their change from the floor. I found .50 cents on powder room floor.
We cleaned the house…of change…that’s it. No one felt like doing any ACTUAL cleaning. Takes too much work with how far gone this place is.
And, we dumped it all into our Teddy Bank. Because, we can’t call it a piggy bank, it’s CLEARLY a bear.
I put a curse on the lid along with written words of caution letting anyone who happened to be thinking about trying to steal from Teddy, well they will be met with a terrible fate. Teddy bites. Oh yes, he does.
As of today, we have approximately $2000 to go until we reach our goal of being able to jump on a plane and fly far, far away. Or not so far. Like I said, there isn’t room to be picky, we just want to go somewhere that Groupon is trying to send us. I mean, have you NOT seen some of those deals on Groupon? Wowzers!
So, we’ll save all our change and the occasional dollar bill and shove them in there in hopes of EVENTUALLY having enough money to go away.
In the meantime, I’m on a mission to convince my kids that, despite what they think, Teddy is NOT a cookie jar and they are to keep their hands out.