Escape

At first I thought that maybe something was wrong with the debit machine at the store, but when it didn't work a second time I knew that something was amiss.  A call to the bank confirmed that my card, or it's number, was stolen and Visa (thank you, Visa) shut the card down and did not allow any further charges.  The woman at the bank asked me if I had recently been in the Dallas area.  When I told her I had not, she said that the location must have tipped them off.  I was curious, so I asked about the places they tried to use the card.  It was nothing exciting.  A few food places in the mall and Wal-Mart were all they could muster.  Didn't they want to have more fun?  Didn't they try to buy a fancy dress or treat everyone to a round of drinks?  Wal-Mart was the best they could do?  Even though I was very, very glad that no money was actually spent by these criminals, the fact that such a mundane mix of stores called for an alert depressed me.  I am so boring and so sedentary that I really only ever go to two places: HEB (groceries) and Target.  That's it.  Other than the occasional clothes purchase, my monthly cell phone bill, and the daycare check, my bank account would put you to sleep.

At work and amongst my friends I hear talk of summer vacations.  Everyone has a great plan, whether it's the beach or Disney or a cabin somewhere.  I am not ashamed to admit that I am jealous.  I was jealous when, as a child, we only took one trip per summer in the car to Iowa.  We would visit my dad's family, look at the farm, swim in the lake, and go home.  I swore that when I had my own family I would take trips and drive to the beach and have lots of fun in the summers.  We are only going one place this summer.  You guessed it - Iowa.  We are going on a plane, though, so at least there won't be a long drive to endure. 

I want to be the trip people.  I want my facebook status to say "We decided to take a last minute trip to the beach!  What a great weekend!"  We aren't those people.  We are stay-at-home-and-do housework people.  We are take care-of-the-yard-and-blow-up-the-inflatable-pool type people.  Just once, though, I would love to have the time and financial freedom to take a short, last minute cruise or drive to the Hill Country to see what we can see.  I don't want to leave my life or my family, I just think we need a little escape.  Of course, maybe I should just stay put.  They might shut my card down again if I leave the area.  I guess I better go warn the bank about the Iowa trip.