Four years ago my husband died in a horrible car accident. He left behind two wonderful boys. Bryan was 10 years old and Toby was 8 years old. His death was very hard on all of us.
I had to get a full time job just to support us. After a year I fell into a great job. Three days a week at the office and the other two at home. That gave me more time with my boys. They seemed to handle losing their father better than I did over time.
Tammy, my best friend, had been nagging at me to get away for the weekend. Go do something for myself. She'd say go to the spa for a weekend or anything to get out of my "rut". That Monday she brought me a beautiful postcard of an island. Said she heard it was a trip of a lifetime and bugged me until I called to set it up.
It was the beginning of summer and the boys wanted to go stay with my parents for two weeks. I planned a mini vacation, 3 days, while they were gone. Just a boat ride to an island. Leave Friday morning, get to the island Friday evening and back toward home Sunday morning.
My parents came Thursday evening and picked up the boys. We said our goodbyes and I told all of them that I would call bright and early Monday morning to let them know how it all went.
I was packed and out the door at 5:00 a.m. Tammy took me so I wouldn't have to leave my car in the parking lot.
By 6:15 we were off. The weather was absolutely amazing. Calm seas, slight breeze and flowing sun. I was the only passenger. There was to be another woman but she had to cancel at the last minute. The crew fixed breakfast: bacon, sausage, pancakes, eggs, toast, coffee, orange juice and milk. I didn't think I'd be able to eat for at least 12 hours. I laid on the front deck and just relaxed soaking up the sun. One of the crew woke me to say it was lunch time. They fixed: fish, cole slaw, hush puppies, french fries and onion rings with white wine. I couldn't hold much but did try a little of each. As with breakfast it was delicious.
We finally got to the island at 6:45 p.m.
