1095 days ago...

...my life changed forever! Almost to the moment as I write this, I am reminded of what happened 3 years ago on this date - Jeremy's proposal to me to be HIS wife!

That year, he had come with me, mom, and dad to the beach for vacation. We stayed at my grandparents house, and had a blast over the long weekend. We had been talking about marriage for a couple of months, and had decided that we would go look at some rings while we were away on vacation. Little did I know, Jeremy had already had the ring specialy made from a guy in D.C., and had carried it all the way from Rock Hill, to North Myrtle Beach for the craziest weekend ever of vacation!!

Not to mention that the weekend of Memorial Day happens to be Atlantic Beach Bike Week (particularly for our brothas and sistas), it's also one of the busiest weekends for the beginning of beach season. There are thousands of folks on mopeds, harleys, and other modes of "bikes" that just ride all day - that's it, ride. We never figured it out. But anyway, this was always the best week for us to come down and use the beach house, so we just put up with all of the noise, traffic, nonsense, policemen...

This weekend has been such a reminder to me of that vacation with my parents. I remember how much sunscreen mom wanted to wear, then put on her cover-ups, then sit under the umbrella all day. I don't think I could count on one hand how many times I remember her getting sun burned. We have to use the golf cart to get to the beach - which means driving through the neighborhood, then crossing Hwy 17 - only THE major highway of the beach...that was such a sight to see: mom and dad on the cart, coming down the highway. Mom would yell "wooooohooooo" and think she was being funny.

This year, Jeremy's parents have joined us for the latter half of our vacation. It's been nice to be away from RH with them, relaxing and enjoying one another. I praise God for my inlaws, who are more like real parents than inlaws to me. Debbie (J's mom) and I spent some quiet time together on the beach this afternoon reading and sitting, while J and his dad went to play golf. Perfect. Absolutely Perfect!

I did a lot of people watching today (listening to Jack Johnson) because I wasn't in the mood to engage my mind in one of Nicholas Sparks' books today. A girl from college, Helen Joy http://helenjoygeorge.blogspot.com likes to do this too, and she's a photographer, so she typically always has her camera on hand to take photos, then comment later. I thought of her today, and all of the photos she would have taken, and the comments that would have been added. I would have you belly laughing at some folks. But, I love it that at the beach, there's only innocence. Folks don't realize what they say, how they look, or what they're doing - it doesn't matter....they're "on vacation"

I, too, have succombed to the "on vacation" mentality - late night Krispy Kreme trip, splotchy burnt red spots from a spray sunscreen gone bad, spending $3-5 on frozen lemonade that melts as soon as it gets in my hand, and forgetting what an alarm clock is. I love vacation. It totally takes me out of my zone and puts me in a much better one. I needed a new zone - BADLY, even if just for a week!

So I'll continue to enjoy my last 3 days "on vacation" with maybe an $8 round of putt putt golf, a trip to the outlets, breakfast on the shore, dinner on the shore, and sliced watermelon on the beach (the only way mom would recommend eating it!)....