Vacation and thoughts of graduation

Oh my, times does have a way of getting away from us, doesn't it?

Since my last post we went on vacation. Although I'm not the biggest beach person in the world, my family members find it incredibly enjoyable. And when I'm with them, so do I.

So the week before Memorial Day, off we went, down to Highway 30-A on the Florida Gulf Coast.

Wife, Younger Son, Daughter, DSO and I were there for the week. Older Son joined us Wednesday and DIL came on Thursday.

It was the perfect time to be there -- light crowds and tolerable temperatures. As Memorial Day weekend approached, more folks came in, but it was still entirely doable.

The house we rented had bicycles and I enjoyed early-morning bike rides in the very bicycle and pedestrian-friendly community where we were staying.

We ate delicious, just out-of-the-ocean seafood just about every night, including some caught by the boys. (I declined going with them since the last time I went deep-sea fishing, in Mexico, I got incredibly seasick. It's still too fresh in my mind).

We went out to eat a few times but mostly ate in and shared cooking and cleanup duties.

And having the family together was just as it always is -- fun, confusing, crazy and beautiful all at the same time. I am so glad these people choose to put up with me.

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Younger Son was home for two weeks in May before we left. He's now a senior in college (gulp!) and is working for a newspaper in Phenix City, Alabama this summer, fulfilling an internship requirement for his degree.

I have threatened not to attend his graduation next spring, saying that, in the alternative, I would celebrate the end of the college years for my three children by running unclothed down the main drag in Auburn, Alabama, then opening a tab at a little bar that was visited by each of my children during their sojourns there. (Which should be followed by the dedication of a building to be named after Wife and me, though I have not been notified of same).

Since I would probably be arrested for carrying through on the first part of the aforementioned proposal, I have retracted that portion. I have been advised that the open tab could cost me dearly so I'm reconsidering that as well.

I'm really not much on graduations, but I'll behave myself and attend. We will have some type of celebration afterward and we will all be clothed. I promise.