The Weekend that Wasn't

When Chris announced that he would have two entire days off work this weekend, visions of a weekend get-a-way danced through my head.  Weighing the options of where to go, I could feel my blood pumping in that good old fashioned SUMMER's HERE kind of way. 

Plan A was to go to my grandpa's country house just a little over an hour away.  It was close enough to leave Sunday morning and come back on Monday afternoon.  With 4-wheelers and plenty of land, the kids were sure to kick the summer off with tons of fresh country air.

On Saturday morning, though, I got news that "there won't be enough room" for us to go. Even though, I wanted to shout a huge BULLSHIT to this, I quietly stewed instead.  It was clear that we were being uninvited. No matter the reason or the lie of an excuse, it wasn't worth fighting over.  Part of me wanted to just go anyway, but I know I would have felt like an imposer the entire time. 

I went to work on a different plan.

Chris' grandma lives about four hours away in a teeny, tiny little town on the edge of beautiful Ozark territory.  I love, love, love going there.  The river is only a 20 minute drive down an old dirt road and the thought of soaking up some rays while my beach chair was parked in the water sounded heavenly.  If we left Saturday night, then the whole four hours away thing didn't seem so bad. 

The catch...his grandma was at her house here in town. Since she doesn't drive, we were hoping she may want to return to the country this weekend and we could be her ride.  As much as she wanted to go "home", she had too many doctor appointments over the next few weeks to go.  That much travel in such a short period of time would be too rough on her.

Although disappointed, I understood.

I went through the weekend trying to make the best of the situation at hand.  With this dark cloud of disappointment hanging over me for the four days, I tried my hardest not to let it break loose.

I kept telling myself that this imagined "kick off to summer" was really only my fantasy. 

We played in the backyard.

We barbecued with family and friends.

We swam.

And we welcomed the freedom of summer.