Dream Your Vacations/February 05, 2007

Erik and I have been dealing with a lot these past few months. To be perfectly frank, we are exhausted- physically, mentally and emotionally. We need a vacation. We are contemplating going to Orlando for a weekend and maybe attending a Disney theme park, since we haven't set foot in one since we were young children. I believe the last time I went to Disney World, I was twelve years old. I miss it all so much.

We could really use the time away, however brief, from all of the torrid nonsense here in Miami. I can't tell you how much I miss Duluth, Georgia. We went last October for the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert. It was a small, clean, beautiful, friendly town and I wish I could move there. I'll never forget how all twelve people inside of the Waffle House said, "Bless you" when Erik sneezed. That kind of thing doesn't happen here in Miami. That kind of niceness doesn't exist down here. All we get in nasty ol' South Florida are obnoxious teenagers with ridiculous bouncing vehicles that blast eardrum-rupturing noise and rude, ignorant people who don't even speak English.

Anyway, back in Duluth, I felt so at peace and comfortable. Not once did we hear police sirens or loud rap music blasting out of some dumb kid's car. The foliage was actually red and orange in the Autumn (my favorite season, which, coincidentally, does NOT exist in Florida) and it was chilly (again, it's always 10000 degrees here). It was quiet and cozy. The town fit us like a glove.

Here in Miami, we're stressed out and we deal with too many nasty people everywhere we go. The city is crowded as hell and we're tired of the same old scene on weekends. We can't even go to an IHOP without encountering some bozo whose vocabulary is limited to "Yo, dawg."

Since we really can't afford a long, extravagant vacation, due to work and school and money issues, we look forward to little weekend getaways and we make the best of them. I enjoy them.

Sometimes, when I'm alone in my room with nothing to do, I'll play some songs that remind me of a place I'd like to be at with Erik and I pretend we're on vacation there. In my head, I picture what we'd wear and what we'd say. I picture where we'd go and what we'd do. It's really quite fun and pretty theraputic. Try it out sometime. My personal favorite for a beach vacation-type of dream is a song called "Edge of the Ocean" by Ivy.

:::

Here is a snippet of a dream I conjured up:

A warm, coconut-scented breeze swirled all around me, causing my flowy white skirt to flutter about like a ghostly dancer. Overhead, the sun was brighter than it had ever been and I felt serenity as I gazed out at the blue-green ocean before me that stretched as far out as my eyes could see. The soft chorus of seagulls chimed above me momentarily as a small flock soared over my head and out over the water. I shielded my eyes as I watched them flap and flap and flap, their lovely voices mixing with the soothing cacophony of the rolling waves below them.

I glanced down as I felt a rush of cool water engulf my toes. My feet sank slightly into the squishy, wet sand and I marveled at the feeling. Behind me, the sand was as white as snow and it glistened in the bright sunshine. I decided to find a nice, cold drink to quench my thirst and turned to walk up the beach. A group of children ran past me and jumped merrily into the water, shouting joyously and laughing. I smiled and continued on. Just a few feet ahead, I could see the little hut that served lunch and refreshments throughout the day. Suddenly, lunch seemed like a great idea.

I walked past sunbathers and young ones building sloppy sand castles; bookworms hiding under large straw hats and umbrellas and couples napping peacefully inside of their tiny tents. My eyes came to rest on a familiar red cooler and colorfully-striped umbrella, under which my love, Erik, was taking a nap on a towel. My heart swelled as I studied his face. That face keeps me mesmerized a lot of the time. I smiled and knelt by his side, intending to wake him. I rubbed his cheek gently and his eyes opened slightly.

"Would you like lunch, honey?" I asked, sweetly. He nodded and closed his eyes again.

Off I went, toward the hut. Upon reaching it, I read the menu and ordered two deli meat sandwiches, two bottles of cold lemonade and two freshly-baked double fudge brownies. This would hold us over until dinner tonight at the Cabana Beach Party. I walked back to our umbrella with the food and we had a lovely lunch while we watched happy children play in the sand and sun. Our small radio was tuned into a classical music station and Mozart played for us alone, it seemed. We talked about our plans for the week that we would be here, in paradise, and laughed at inside jokes and old times.

I joined him in a nap after we ate. It felt quite nice to doze off for a while. After we felt refreshed and that we had properly digested our lunch, we went for a swim and later joined a group of children in the construction of a giant sand castle. It came out quite nice by sundown. The children thanked us profusely for helping them with their creation and we all collapsed into fits of laughter after one particularly clumsy child tripped and toppled right into the castle, completely destroying it.

The sky was like an orange and yellow painting. People all over the beach began packing their things. We too closed up our umbrella and emptied out the cooler of its melted contents. We had an hour to return to our beach house to freshen up and then it was time to head to the beach party. There would be music provided by live bands, dinner and an open bar serving a variety of tropical-flavored drinks and smoothies. Not to mention, the dessert menu that had been promised was quite astonishing and made our mouths water.

"I'm so glad we decided to come here," I gushed to my love as we walked toward the beach house we'd rented for the week. He smiled and nodded. When we reached the front porch, we turned to watch the last of the sun's rays disappear under the horizon. The night was young and tomorrow would be another glorious day. Oh, how fabulous vacations can be!

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