Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Escape

Morning

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.

11 comments:

  1. Oh man, I so hear you on this!! Replace Iowa with Indiana and you have my summer vacations as a child. And while I have done better than my parents--I still envy those people who just "go off" to Bermuda or Disney World/Land, or a Cruise...I may never be able to at this rate!

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  2. This is why the Iowan's go on big vacations :-) What part of Iowa are you going too?

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  3. Homebodies are the best kind of stable people there are! We are usually home, but we are going to Hawaii this summer...had to pull Mark's teeth to do it...but it worked! Have fun on your trip, you deserve it! xoxo Jeffra

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  4. We took no family vacations as kids...Two hours south for the DAY to visit family...and once in awhile - when we got REALLY crazy - we went three hours east for the occassional grad party or wedding with...you guessed it...family.
    That is why the time for us is NOW. That's why we did Disney this past winter and why I'm already planning the next Disney trip when Hailey turns 6.
    It's why I live in the house we live in now, even though I want to move soo badly...because I cannot, will not, regret not going places and doing things with our kids while they are still young enough to love me! Ha Ha!
    All we've got is today...I refuse to have any regrets...

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  5. Yeah, I think we take alot of trips. We've been to Hawaii once; Grand Canyon; Yosemite several times; San Francisco; Chicago. Traveling with family is stressful -- my boys especially so -- but it's the one thing that helps me to feel less bad about the state of our house. I can be all, "Oh well, so what if the paint in the bathroom is peeling off! At least we got to go to Utah!" :-)

    As a kid, we did NOTHING. No trips, no restaurants. EVER. It was bizarre.

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  6. As a kid, my summer vacation trip was a drive to Kerrville, TX to see my great aunt or to San Antonio. Now that i"m married, I've traveled farther than I ever had as a child. But, that said, our usual weekend trip is to OKC, which is 1.5 hours away. That's all my kiddos can stand. And me, without benadryl, LOL

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  7. we didn't travel much growing up. hopefully we will get to the point where we can do that soon - but, for today, we stay home and hang out. I'm good with that at the moment - even though i would probably kill to get to the beach this summer!

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  8. I think you can take up a cruise vacation with your family. There are various deals on offer for Cheap Last Minute Cruises. You can check the websites and have your options.
    All the best.

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  9. You know me... I am a firm believer of "escaping" after our latest trip. :) I hope you guys get to take a mini trip of your own sometime soon.

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  10. I hope you get to go away somewhere out of the norm. I can't imagine Iowa as very fun but then again, I usually end up in Missouri every year!

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  11. I know! It seems like everyone I know is taking their 2-year-old to Disney! I keep telling my husband that we need to plan something - not even so much for the "going," but for the "looking-forward-to."

    I hope Iowa is fun! :)

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