I'm 99% certain I'm still finding sand here and there even after countless showers since my return home, and as annoying as it is I wouldn't trade it for the world.
It's been about a week since my trip back to Kansas after spending a week in South Carolina, and it's taken me until now to write this because getting back into my everyday routine after a week of vacationing is just. so. draining.
That said, it feels so great to be writing again and to be sharing it with you. It's so nice to finally be caught up on bills, to be done with enrollment for the upcoming semester, and to have an empty work email inbox after filtering through endless "here's what you missed" subject lines.
The vacation time was much needed, and now that it's over I'm happy to have the chance to rewind it again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Change was more or less the underlying theme of this trip, as much as it pains me to admit it. Don't get me wrong, it was a blast. I loved it. The changes weren't bad, they were just different. They were proof that time is delicate, that people grow up, that lives get more complicated, and that sometimes the simpler things are, the better.
Instead of flying with my whole family, it was just my mom and I since we were the only two who managed to find a week we both could escape from work and other commitments. Instead of my grandparents hosting us in the home where I had caught turtles, run across the cold tile floors, and bathed in the garage sink as a toddler, they picked us up from the airport and brought us to an entirely new house.
A house that hasn't yet and might not ever see me catch turtles, or run across tile floors because my strides are much bigger now than they were when I was too young to care. But the new house is great. It really is. It won't experience the same things that the old house did. That's okay. We're all a little older, wiser, and different now. The new house will see plenty of what we have become.
It hit me, as I was strolling down the beach with my mother and just barely dipping my toes in the water, just how much things really have changed. As a little girl, summer after summer, I had begged my parents to smother me in sunscreen as fast as they could so I could start running into waves, burying myself in wet sand and making trip after trip back to our chairs with a bucket full of my ocean findings.
But that was a long time ago, and I didn't realize just how much time had passed until I found myself not wanting to do any of that.
"I don't think I'll even get in the water," I told my mom as we strolled up and down the beach barely dipping our toes in the water. "Just being here is enough."
She laughed, and that's exactly what we spent the early afternoon doing. Just being there.
When the two year old girl with a big bow tying back her curly hair was beside us the next afternoon running back and forth from the ocean to the hot sand and back again over and over, my mom and I both couldn't help but love every minute of it.
Because 17 years ago, that was me.
I looked at my mom, back at the little girl, and back to my sunburned toes.
"I swear I'm gonna bring my kids here someday," I said. "Just so they can know what this is like."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oh, and the new house saw the first Perez-Tobias nap-a-thon. (None of them know I took this, but after one hundred texts back and forth, several cups of coffee, too many miles driven, four flight delays, one flight cancellation, plan changes and some stressful arrangement making, naps were needed by all) so I present to you, live footage of the well-deserved nap-a-thon.
It wasn't long, but it was nice while it lasted. ;)
One of the first things I had my heart set on doing over the course of my vacation time was heading up to the Garden City Pier arcade and playing some SERIOUS Skee-ball, but my grandpa changed the game (as he often does) when he used two of our tokens to try a jackpot machine. His winnings included 50 tickets, and I'm competitive. I knew I couldn't beat that if I stuck to Skee-ball, so I decided to try the jackpot machine for myself.
"What do you even do?" I asked him, and he instructed me to do exactly as he had done. I pulled the lever and the ball shot right into the jackpot hole, and we attracted a crowd as we all stood around waiting for the machine to spit out the twelve HUNDRED tickets it owed me.
"Now you can get a box of Twinkies with those tickets!" my grandparents joked, because just earlier I had told them about how my last arcade experience was a total failure and hadn't even gotten me enough tickets to buy a two-pack of Twinkies.
But our luck didn't stop with me winning the jackpot.
The next day my grandfather called us all out to the back porch to ask if we could confirm that he had managed to score a flat-screen TV from a raffle-type game on the back of his newspaper. To us, it appeared he had, so the next day we all got dressed and drove to the car dealership to pick up his prize.
It turns out he didn't ACTUALLY win the TV, but they gave him a $2 bill as a consolation prize.
"With this, we go for coffee!" he shouted, and ten minutes later we were all sitting in the cutest local coffee shop in downtown Conway. C3 Coffee Bar, standing for community, coffee and conversation. He actually let me keep the $2 bill, and just bought the coffees anyway.
And I gotta say, the way to my heart is definitely taking me out for coffee. We joked, laughed, shared stories, sipped our drinks and both of my grandparents even let me teach them how to use SnapChat. Don't believe me? Check this out.
It's been about a week since my trip back to Kansas after spending a week in South Carolina, and it's taken me until now to write this because getting back into my everyday routine after a week of vacationing is just. so. draining.
That said, it feels so great to be writing again and to be sharing it with you. It's so nice to finally be caught up on bills, to be done with enrollment for the upcoming semester, and to have an empty work email inbox after filtering through endless "here's what you missed" subject lines.
The vacation time was much needed, and now that it's over I'm happy to have the chance to rewind it again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Change was more or less the underlying theme of this trip, as much as it pains me to admit it. Don't get me wrong, it was a blast. I loved it. The changes weren't bad, they were just different. They were proof that time is delicate, that people grow up, that lives get more complicated, and that sometimes the simpler things are, the better.
Instead of flying with my whole family, it was just my mom and I since we were the only two who managed to find a week we both could escape from work and other commitments. Instead of my grandparents hosting us in the home where I had caught turtles, run across the cold tile floors, and bathed in the garage sink as a toddler, they picked us up from the airport and brought us to an entirely new house.
A house that hasn't yet and might not ever see me catch turtles, or run across tile floors because my strides are much bigger now than they were when I was too young to care. But the new house is great. It really is. It won't experience the same things that the old house did. That's okay. We're all a little older, wiser, and different now. The new house will see plenty of what we have become.
It hit me, as I was strolling down the beach with my mother and just barely dipping my toes in the water, just how much things really have changed. As a little girl, summer after summer, I had begged my parents to smother me in sunscreen as fast as they could so I could start running into waves, burying myself in wet sand and making trip after trip back to our chairs with a bucket full of my ocean findings.
But that was a long time ago, and I didn't realize just how much time had passed until I found myself not wanting to do any of that.
"I don't think I'll even get in the water," I told my mom as we strolled up and down the beach barely dipping our toes in the water. "Just being here is enough."
She laughed, and that's exactly what we spent the early afternoon doing. Just being there.
When the two year old girl with a big bow tying back her curly hair was beside us the next afternoon running back and forth from the ocean to the hot sand and back again over and over, my mom and I both couldn't help but love every minute of it.
Because 17 years ago, that was me.
I looked at my mom, back at the little girl, and back to my sunburned toes.
"I swear I'm gonna bring my kids here someday," I said. "Just so they can know what this is like."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oh, and the new house saw the first Perez-Tobias nap-a-thon. (None of them know I took this, but after one hundred texts back and forth, several cups of coffee, too many miles driven, four flight delays, one flight cancellation, plan changes and some stressful arrangement making, naps were needed by all) so I present to you, live footage of the well-deserved nap-a-thon.
It wasn't long, but it was nice while it lasted. ;)
"What do you even do?" I asked him, and he instructed me to do exactly as he had done. I pulled the lever and the ball shot right into the jackpot hole, and we attracted a crowd as we all stood around waiting for the machine to spit out the twelve HUNDRED tickets it owed me.
"Now you can get a box of Twinkies with those tickets!" my grandparents joked, because just earlier I had told them about how my last arcade experience was a total failure and hadn't even gotten me enough tickets to buy a two-pack of Twinkies.
But our luck didn't stop with me winning the jackpot.
The next day my grandfather called us all out to the back porch to ask if we could confirm that he had managed to score a flat-screen TV from a raffle-type game on the back of his newspaper. To us, it appeared he had, so the next day we all got dressed and drove to the car dealership to pick up his prize.
It turns out he didn't ACTUALLY win the TV, but they gave him a $2 bill as a consolation prize.
"With this, we go for coffee!" he shouted, and ten minutes later we were all sitting in the cutest local coffee shop in downtown Conway. C3 Coffee Bar, standing for community, coffee and conversation. He actually let me keep the $2 bill, and just bought the coffees anyway.
And I gotta say, the way to my heart is definitely taking me out for coffee. We joked, laughed, shared stories, sipped our drinks and both of my grandparents even let me teach them how to use SnapChat. Don't believe me? Check this out.
After this, my Papa said, "That's it. Let's go to Costco. We have to get an iPhone."
Talk about goals, am I right?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'd say we got a pretty good start on making some new house, things-keep-changing-so-let's-treasure-this-while-we-can kinds of memories.
The new house is walking distance from waffle house and I'd be lying if I told you anything other than that we ate their two mornings in a row and bonded over jokes with our waitress.
And man, do I love waffles.
So breakfasts were always great, but so were dinners. The night we arrived my grandma already had a fresh pot of fried rice on the stove. My grandpa made his Cuban tortilla, (check out my mom's Facebook page for his audition tape for Food Network- which doubles as a cooking AND Spanish lesson!), as well as frijoles negros con arroz which will forever be my favorite comfort food and Cuban meal.
I introduced them both to my favorite lettuce wrap recipe too, and cooked it for them. On our second to last night there, we patio dined with the coolest people and I discovered the love of my life- A fried Mac n' Cheese burger on Texas toast accompanied with thick, crunchy waffle fries.
I guess now is a great time to mention that as I cleaned my plate entirely, both of my grandparents clapped for me. If you don't have grandparents that will hype you up like that, I am so sorry. Because that moment was the best.
My grandpa ordered the HeartStopper burger, though, so maybe it's one of those "like-grandfather-like-granddaughter" things. I would've taken a picture of my own burger, too, but it was halfway gone before I thought about it.
No regrets.
We played nine games of Phase 10 in the eight days we were there, and I only won once but I loved every second of losing, too. Playing cards is one of those things that will always make me happy, especially with my grandparents because it's a rare thing and it's tradition.
Sometimes we kept score and sometimes we didn't. Sometimes we talked about things while we played, sometimes we just sat and enjoyed the company. Actually, we enjoyed the company all the time.
My grandma, (Oma) is sporting the Wichita State shirt I brought her. #shockernation and she won most of the games we played so... that #shocker luck must be rubbing off.
As much as I wish this trip could have been like all the ones before it in terms of being able to visit with all of my cousins too, they're all of living their own lives. Finding their soulmates, adopting dogs, finishing school, getting new jobs, starting their own families, and attempting to keep up with the chaos of their own little worlds just as I am with mine. Nonetheless, it was great to get to see my uncle and aunt, get Chinese takeout with them, ride the Skywheel together and catch up for the first time face-to-face in far too long.
There's just... something about how little things look from even just a little bit higher up than usual that manages to somehow make everything better. It feels good to be on top of the world for a minute.
My fortune from our Chinese takeout dinner was oddly relevant, too.
"Life is about making some things happen, not waiting for something to happen."
Because that's what the trip as a whole was for me. I wanted to do it and I knew it was possible, so I knew I'd stop at nothing until it became a reality. I was done waiting to see when the next opportunity would be. I just.. made one.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We went to dinner theater on one of the first nights of the trip, which I honestly can not sum up for you briefly (trust me, I've tried. It's impossible), but I can tell you that it was a show called "Pirates Voyage," and I can also tell you that I milked the chance to make booty jokes as much as I possibly could throughout the entire show.
One minute I was eating a potato and the next minute there was a sea lion right in front of me.. I love vacation.
Oh, Mom and Dot pics are crucial, right? We didn't take many, but here are two of my faves.
When we sat down to breakfast at Eggs Up one morning, my Papa said to the hostess: "I wanna see your cracks," and there's NOTHING funnier than Papa Perez laughing at his own jokes.
Nothing.
Oma's reppin' that Wu again!!! #shockernation #shockerpride
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notes:
one of my days on the beach was spent picking up fragments of broken seashells and in holding a handful of them, my heart finally understood just how beautiful even the most broken things can be
(so broken hearts can heal and you can still be stunning)
also, running at the waves with open arms as they crashed in on me made me feel so clean.
almost as if all the stresses, anxieties, pressures, and problems I'd been dealing with had just been washed off and left in the depths of the water instead of pressing relentlessly at the back of my mind.
i'm sorry that this has been all over the place and that this is so long- i can not tell you how many times i've tried to write this so that it makes at least some sort of sense but i can't because suddenly everything i've felt is rushing at me faster than i can manage to move my fingers across my keyboard
(i have never been so grateful)
but mostly,
i just want to tell you that life really is about making some things happen and those things don't have to be jackpots or beautiful patio dinners
they can be you
just you being happy
they can be anything you want them to be
things change, life happens.
love it. live it.
life only happens to you once.
{thank you for being all the things that my life has consisted of}
xox
- this is my promise to always embrace change and accept that the world moves a bit faster than i'd ever imagined
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