So we got to spend last week on one of the best beach vacations I’ve ever had.  We spent the week at Bald Head Island (BHI) with my Mom and Bert, my brother Russ and his wife Kelly and their kids Caroline and Jack.  Before I move on I should state that I’ve never been on a bad beach vacation although two of them were not exactly relaxing: one time when I was a kid my Dad took us on a camping beach vacation near Assateague Island and we were eaten alive by horse flies, and this last spring we spent the kids’ spring break at Myrtle and had about 30 minutes of clear skies (I’m not exaggerating).  Still in both cases we managed to enjoy ourselves more than you could in most other times of your life, so saying that this last week was one of the best is high praise.

Besides the company what made the week so nice was the location.  There isn’t a bridge to BHI so the only way to get there is by a ferry.  It also has no cars so everyone gets around on golf carts.  There also aren’t any condos or high rises and there are very long beaches with a tremendous number of public access points so the beach is blissfully uncrowded and quiet.  If you go to a beach and it’s too crowded for your taste you can simply load back into your cart and head down the road to a better locale.

Best of all to me is that there aren’t any distractions like amusement parks, go kart races, cheesy beach stores, etc. to cause us to run around like a bunch of crazed tourists.  I used to like that stuff, but I’ve become a doddering old man and I really like just hanging out at the beach and spending time talking, playing games, body surfing, etc.  Then in the evening it’s just hanging out, eating too much, watching a movie or playing a game, or whatever you feel like doing.  Absolutely perfect for this old man.

Now I’m sure the kids would have loved to have other things to do, but they were troopers and they made do with movies, games, etc.  I was amazed that our daughter didn’t go into severe TXT-withdrawal when she discovered that her phone didn’t get reception in the house we were staying in.  In a way I think she kind of welcomed the break from the 6,000 TXT messages she sends each month.  I’m sure her thumbs appreciated the rest.

Of course vacations always come to an end and this one did with a bang.  The drive home was uneventful, but when we got home we inflicted a puppy upon ourselves.  You read right, we weren’t home three hours before we headed out to adopt a stray puppy we found via Esbee.  When I read her Piedmont Puppitas post I thought of my darling wife who’s been pining for a baby in some form for about 11 years and decided now was the time to do it seeing as we are also getting a kitten thanks to our kids bringing one home from their mission camp trip despite our telling them not to.  In for a dime, in for a dollar I say.

When I showed Celeste Esbee’s post and she saw the picture of the puppitas she practically leaped out of her skin to answer in the affirmative that we should adopt.  I contacted Esbee who passed my name along to the kind fellow who took in the wayward litter of puppitas and he called me on my cell.  Since reception was so spotty in the house on BHI I ended up talking to him while standing on the upper floor and touching a metal window frame to increase my antenna-like capabilities.  We arranged to meet upon our return on Sunday evening  and then Celeste and I made the wise decision to say nothing to the kids lest they try and convince us to leave four days early from our vacation.

So last night we drove to get the puppy, telling the kids only that we had a surprise for them.  As we approached the house Celeste and I could see the puppies cavorting in the yard, and our daughter Erin was in mid-sentence (a perpetual state for her) when she finally spied them and shrieked "PUPPIES!"  Game over.  We spent about 1/2 hour playing with the litter before the consensus decision was made to adopt the runt, a shy little girl that we’ve named Mia.

I thought maybe that would be all the excitement we’d get upon our return, and certainly it seemed like enough, but then this morning we heard a huge bang from our garage and went to see what had fallen.  Fortunately nothing fell, but the spring on one of our garage doors did break so now one of our cars is being held hostage in our garage.  I’m hoping my neighbor and I can free it this afternoon, but it looks like we’ll be getting a new garage door sooner than I expected.  We’re going to replace the door instead of just the spring because the door is in pretty bad shape and we told ourselves we’d do it whenever something on the door gave out, like a rusty spring. 

And of course Erin’s team, of which I’m the assistant coach, has three practices this week and a kick-off tournament this weekend, and Michael’s into two-a-days for football, and back-to-school activities begin this week.  Put it all together and you have the perfect brew for bringing me back to earth but-quick from a serene week at the beach.  I wouldn’t have it any other way.