Beach Weekend Recap

I will post pictures later, but I wanted to go ahead and recap the beach weekend while it is fresh on my mind.

First of all--the place where we stayed was amazing. All bedrooms had a view of the water, and from the living area both the ocean and the bay were visible--breathtaking!! Plus, the condo was huge and brand new and completely FREE because it belongs to Shannon's aunt. Thanks again, Shannon!!! Also, it was completely uncrowded. We spent a lot of time by the pool because it was rather hot and there were lots of jellyfish in the ocean. The pool was never crowded at all. So nice!! And the weather was perfect. The sky was so blue with perfect white clouds. Perfect beach weather.

So...that was the setting.

The company consisted of TEN of us. That never happens. There are always conflicts, and we can't ever find a time when all of us can get together. Of course, there were still a few people missing, but we were still amazed that so many of us made it. Of course it was so much fun to see everyone and catch up. We laughed at how different our conversations are these days. Friday night, we all sat around talking about politics (which I know nothing about), then we went to bed fairly early, and were all awake by 7 am Saturday morning. Not quite the same as past beach trips.

I will admit that I experienced a lot of Ada homesickness. I didn't think I would because I was okay the other two times I left her, but I think being so far away made it worse. The farthest away I had been was Auburn, so she had been less than two hours away, and I always had the option of hopping in the car and being where she was fairly quickly. When I thought about the fact that I was seven hours away, I became pretty overwhelmed. I tried not to think about it because I wanted to soak up the time away with friends. Friday night as I was going to bed is when I felt it the worst, but I just prayed until I fell asleep, and I was okay.

Another strange emotion I felt was feeling somewhat disconnected to everyone else's lives. Most of my friends are living, what seem to me, exciting lives. They are all working successful jobs or planning mission trips to "far away" lands. I had to spend some time praying for contentment where God has me--in a rather mundane place. Now, I am well aware that each life situation has postive and negatives, but you know how it is so easy to only see the positive when you are on the outside looking in. Because, honestly, I have all I ever wanted--a Godly husband, a daughter, and a "career" as a stay-at-home-mom, so I am sure that if I was in any other situation, the mom thing might seem a lot different than the reality that it is. It's all in perspective, right? But in an effort to make this blog as transparent as possible, I wanted to share some of the struggles I had this past weekend.

Don't get me wrong--overall it was a fabulous weekend, and it was so sad to leave. Those girls are my best, best friends. I think that they always will be, but I did feel slightly out of place at times. Like the "dorky" mom if that makes sense. I mean, let's face it, my tight budget and dreams of a mini-van don't paint the most glamorous picture, and it's easy to find myself envious of other life situations. But...I prayed my little heart out each time I felt those feelings creeping up, and God was faithful to take those lies away and allow me to relax and simply enjoy the company of my closest college friends. It was a great weekend despite my sinful nature trying to rear it's ugly head.