Joyful Hugs

Ben & Galen on the 13 mile paddle.

My family was off kayaking and camping last week at Cumberland Island. This trip is too difficult for me and this crazy disease. It's a 13 mile kayak over to the campsite, the heat can get bad, there are a lot of ticks and scorpions and snakes, and it's a two mile hike from the campsite to the beach. My husband Greg has gone a couple of years in a row and both times wanted me to go. He's a strong enough paddler to get us both over and he planned to devise a way to carry me to the beach. A human powered vehicle of some sort (aka a litter). Here's what I imagined:

But it would probably be more like this:

Maybe someday I will join them but I decided to sit this one out. Sometimes they were in cell phone range and they sent me pictures through texts and I felt like I was there! Well, sort of. I called it my mobile vacation. It was my way of making the best of not actually being on vacation with my family.

Here's one of my favorite pictures:

My husband wrote "Greg & Marjorie" on their private oasis.

I managed to have some fun back home and got plenty of  R&R. But, I can't explain how much their coming home meant to me. When I spoke to my kids on the phone, they sounded so happy to talk to me. They didn't get home until after 3 am but I got up to greet them and I got the biggest hugs. The next morning, more hugs! I'm not talking side hugs or lean over hugs or pats on the back. I'm talking straight up, warm hugs. Longs hugs that said "I know I'm a teenager and sometimes I can be awful and sometimes you can be a pretty awful mom but you mean the world to me and I missed you so much." Now that is my kind of hug!

If that's what it takes to get one of those kind of hugs again, well, where do you want to go next?

My boys hiking to the beach - Cumberland Island 2012 

Welcome home boys. I missed you! Thank you for the hugs.