Remembering...Our Last Family Vacation

I got a call a few weeks ago from a cousin. She needed to ask me a question. She did. I answered. We chatted. Inevitably, the topic of coronavirus and the quarantine came up. She asked if things had changed much for us due to the pandemic. She said families had to look at things differently, like if they wanted to go on vacation in the summer, would they go to the east coast, or the west coast, or out of the country? Many plans would be changing.

Then, I told her something I'm not sure she believed.

I told her that going on vacations is something our family doesn't consider, and that the last vacation our family took was in 2013. The one we took before that was in 2005.

I know that's not normal for others, but, for us, it is. So, at least a few weeks ago, our normal of staying home was becoming everyone else's normal, too. If places open up this summer, perhaps families will continue their traditions and enjoy a vacation away from home. Whether that happens or not, our tradition of staying home will most likely continue.

I was on my computer today and I ran across a YouTube video I posted that I made a few months after our trip in 2013 ended. It was fun to produce and it brought back a ton of memories. Also, the music I used is killer! It's hard to top Pat Leishman.

I've included the video and copied some shots from the trip. The kids have grown so much since then--for our youngest, he's almost doubled in age since our trip. Since we're on a "one vacation every eight years" timeline, looks like we'll be needing to go somewhere next year.

We'll see.

Peter Pan...The Video

We closed a show this week and I was commenting today with my wife that it's weird I won't be seeing the cast and crew of the show again. Sure, here and there we'll run into each other or, if we're lucky, do another show together. But when we do one of these shows, we see them sometimes more than we do our family.

One thing I like to do while in a show it take pictures and shoot videos of the people. I think the stage managers thing I'm nuts filming from off stage the action taking place only feet away. And it's a vantage point no one in the audience ever gets to see. but it's how I see a show when I'm in a show.

So I compiled some of those pictures and videos and set it to the cool song, Take Me Away, performed by the incredibly talented Pat Leishman. You can access his website: HERE. It's a little long, so if you're not in the show or know people that are, the video might be a little boring. Hopefully if you were in the show or know someone who was, it won't be. Apologies to half the cast. This is a little (or a lot...) one-cast-strong, even thought I tried getting some pictures with everyone.

The video's up on YouTube. The link can be found: HERE. Again, I hope this brings back some fun memories of those came together and had a great time.