A grand vacation!

It's still early June but I already have some stories of how I spent my summer vacation. It was just 10 days, though at times it seemed longer. And now that it's over, I'm wondering how it went so quickly.

The vacation was time off work to be Grandma fulltime to grandbabies Dodge and Logan while their parents took a cruise that I had won for them last year in a church raffle. Given they are two years closer in age than my own two children were, Tom and I really didn't know what we were in for. My goodness -- what a lot of work these two little guys are! It was all I could do to focus on getting them fed, securing naps, entertaining them and getting them in bed at night before I collapsed.

Dodge and I did get flowers planted in pots on the deck during Logan's morning naps, but it took three days to accomplish what I could have done in one by myself. One day I escaped to Home Depot by myself while Tom kept an eye on two napping grandsons, but the whole time I was in the store, my ears picked up the sound of every other toddler there with a mom or grandma.

We finally got them delivered back home and bathed and ready for bed the Sunday night their parents came home. I was never so happy to be back in the office for a rest that Monday morning, and I'm still catching up.

When child-rearing got tough, my mom always liked to say, "Those are the joys of being a mother." Now I know better than ever, "Those are the joys of being a grandmother."

Good medicine!

Too often this blog has focused on my medical journey. Today it is about what makes all that worthwhile.

Tom and I are in Cancun for a week's vacation. We figure this is the fifth or sixth time we've been here, but the first time it has been just the two of us. What took us so long? The times before were all great, and we're remembering a lot of those times now, but we haven't taken enough vacations by ourselves. Not surprisingly, we have been talking about making this an annual event.

At the same time, we're talking about creating new family memories. At the pool yesterday, I asked the parents of two little boys how old their sons were. As the little guys, aged 2 and 4, played in the pool, I could see our grandsons having fun with us on a future trip. And their parents would love to come back to the place where they were engaged.

Sun, sand, water, warm weather, good food and drink, each other for company and no pressure to be anywhere at a particular time -- all make for a wonderfully relaxing time.

Wish you were here -- but we're kinda glad you're not!