Vacation...the highs, the lows...

See, now this is where I'd usually insert a picture to show something fun or pretty from our trip. However, I cannot do that for this trip. Because all of my camera equipment was stolen on this trip. Camera. Two lenses. Filters. Extra battery. Both CF cards. The whole shebang. Gone in a matter of minutes on the beach. Someone out there is enjoying my stuff. Or else they're enjoying the profits from selling it, which it is likely they've done by now.

So, aside from being out $2,000 in camera stuff, I have...

...driven three hours through torrential downpours on unfamiliar roads.
...suffered a nasty cold for the first half of the trip.
...had a child throw up two nights.
...had the bed I was sleeping in suddenly fall apart and scare the crap out of me.
...been stopped by the police for running a red light.

I do not like dwelling on the negative. I rarely do. I'm the one who is always looking for the silver lining. But this trip? It's been really difficult. I've been so out of sorts through all of this. But in it all, I know there is some sort of message or lesson I'm supposed to be getting. One lesson I've learned for sure is that four trips to Florida within 12 months is too much of a good thing. I'm so ready to just be HOME.

But, in an effort to not be a complete poop about this trip, I will note the following gifts I can recognize from the past week...

...walking on the beach at night under an almost full moon and also seeing people set off fireworks right by the ocean. Very cool.
...attending a Celtic worship service at the local Episcopal church, which was quite beautiful.
...getting whistled at by some guy out on a fishing boat at the piers (how long has it been since *that's* happened??).
...finally getting my new tattoo that I've been designing for months (picture to come, eventually, when I have a camera again...ahem).
...only getting a warning about running the red light. (Whew.)
...read Joshilyn Jackson's second wonderful book, Between, Georgia.

We leave my mom's tomorrow morning, drive to Orlando and fly home through Atlanta. After this week, I'm seriously praying the planes all stay in the sky as they're supposed to. Just get me to Pittsburgh, folks. I want to go home.