Monday Musings While Melting Away

Happy Monday to you from Nags Head, N.C., where we are enjoying an all-family week of vacation, melting tanning in the sun. (Oops!...did I say tanning? I guess that's passe these days...nevermind...see On Getting a Tan and More On Tanning for more on my feelings on sunbathing.)

Anyway, we're having a fine time dusting sand from all of our belongings, slathering sunblock on our appendages, and relaxing after our 11-hour drive to get here...more on that in a bit.

A new week in a new month! Time is flying by as per usual. Only 5 months and a bit until the new season of 24. Woooooo-hooooo! Good news is that most of our other favorites are returning in September. So not much longer for them.

So back to our journey....it took us 11 hours to do our normal 8 1/2-hour trip....due to traffic. Since we usually come off-season we weren't expecting the throngs of OBXers driving down with us. Afterall, it's "our" beach, isn't it?

Okay. Okay. Only kidding there.

We did know that there would be more travellers due to the time of year, but we were blessed with clear roads until we were 6 miles from Nags Head...then it took 2 hours to drive those last few miles. The car wasn't really happy...the occupants were melting in the sun...and the kids kept asking "How many miles now?" (They were warned not to ask "Are we there yet?")

Still, we made it safe and sound and that's all that mattered.

* * *

5 THINGS TO BE HAPPY ABOUT

• swimming with dolphins

• old books in original jackets

• a soft beach towel

• seizing the day

• the waves on a meringue pie

* * *

Appropriate five happy things for our vacation week, huh?

Yesterday when we took our first morning beach walk, we looked over the most serene ocean to see...dolphins swimming and dancing in the sun. What a treat!

The sun sparkled on the waves, and the pelicans flew and dipped and flapped in a cool ocean breeze.

Makes a person really thankful for God's creation...and for vacation.