Goodbye To Florida and The Road Back Home

It was with a heavy heart that we said goodbye to FLA, not just because we had such a great time, but because we hate saying goodbye to family. Adding to the fun was the fact that it was a bit of a fiasco getting to the airport, though this time around we were all together as a family, which makes all the difference. It ain’t easy being a single parent and getting everyone onto that plane. I see it all the time, almost always it’s the mom with her kids, probably going off to meet dad somewhere. Funny how that works.

We had an afternoon flight back to Boston, and having some time is a good thing, but it also lulls you into a false sense of security where you often procrastinate until the zero hour. This time was no different. We were enjoying our last moments on the beach and before we knew it, it was time to go. If anything, we should have left a little earlier considering that we didn’t even know where the airport was, how long it would take to get there, and we had to return the darn rental car. Bummer.

To compound the matter, the kids were a bit disgruntled that they didn’t get a FLA souvenir. They usually get some memento of their trip, and that’s fine by us as long as it’s nothing big. The upper limit is usually $10. We were on the cusp of leaving, and when this fact sunk in with A&R, they were not happy because we kept putting them off when they brought it up. “Not now... we’ll see... they have stuff at the airport.” Truth be told, they didn’t have stuff at the airport, but we couldn’t have know that.

Either way, we were short on time, but stopped at the kitschy souvenir shop for one last hurrah. You can’t disappoint your kids all the time. This does not mean you should spoil them, but parents should also keep their word to their kids. The shop was actually perfect because there was so much stuff, and it was cheap. Plus, a lot of it had Florida on it, so it came with memories. A got a little mood-robot necklace, cute like her, and N got a FLA pocket knife with his name on it. Perfect.

We bolted out of the store and hit the road. Again, we were not sure about where we were going, just that we needed to get on the highway and head north. We figured there would be signs indicating an airport, and there were. The airport is actually right next to the Daytona 500 speedway, so that was kind of cool. Cars seem to be a big deal in FLA, not unlike Cali. We found the rental car return, went to the terminal and found out that the plane was about the board. The clock was ticking! We rushed through check in, got to our gate with some time to spare, and then boarded. It was fairly smooth sailing from there. We stopped in Atlanta, which is huge, then boarded our connection to Boston.

Like the knucklehead that I am, I forgot to mail my postcards in FLA because it was a scramble and I sure as heck couldn’t find a post office or a mailbox for that matter. I thought Atlanta would suffice, but there’s not a lot of time between connections, and I forgot to look for a post office. My final option was Boston, which is not as cool, but I’m guessing a lot of people won’t even look at the postmark.

We landed around 10:00, caught the shuttle to the hotel, and hit the sack. The plan was to wake up early, catch the first bus to NH, arrive home around noon, and then drive to N’s hockey game at 1:00. This plan, as you might have guessed, completely fell through, because were tired and didn’t want to miss out on the buffet breakfast at the hotel. Oh well, we’ll just work a little harder on the ice when we get back.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.