The Picture-less Vacation

Something horrible happened.

We were on vacation in South Carolina and accidentally deleted all our pictures. Has this ever happened to you? It makes me sick to my stomach just thinking about it. And even though I tried to brush it off like no big deal, I almost felt like if we didn't have any pictures, it's as if it never even happened. Which is silly, right?! I think I rely too much on pictures to remember little (and big) moments in our lives. I need to be better at writing them down and keeping the mental images in my head. But pictures are great too when they don't suddenly disappear from your dumb camera and make you want to cry.

So, this may be boring as a blog post (only interesting to me), but I can still see a number of images in my mind and I want to hurry and write them down so that hopefully I will always be able to remember them.

Dear Lauren,

Remember how wonderful it was to stay at the Prieto's in Chapel Hill. Luke totally tackled little Gigi when I tried to take a picture of them together. Gigi's wispy black curls were adorable and Metta and Marcos were, as usual, the perfect hosts. Listening to Ace of Base in the background while they "threw together" the most incredible breakfast I've ever had. They even sent us away with a mix cd to listen to on our way to Myrtle Beach. Everyone should be friends with the Prieto's and the world would be a much better place.

Remember the pictures you took of gorgeous UNC and Duke!? I was expecting some good things from Duke but I had no idea that UNC was one of the most idyllic campuses I've ever visited. I wanted to hop out of the car and walk to class with the rest of the students. Gorgeous buildings and an outdoor theater that is unreal. Why don't they build college campuses like these anymore!

Remember Myrtle Beach and visiting the State Park. Luke ran through the forest like a wild man and threw sticks in the streams. You could hardly keep up with him and most of your pictures were of him running away down the tree-lined trail. But he cried when you took him to the beach to take pictures. It was so windy! Your hair was in your face in every single picture. Andrew left Luke's jacket on top of the car before we drove off and so he was extra chilly and voiced his disapproval loudly. You bribed him with chocolate so you could run out and take a family picture on the pier. He agreed but still whined and hid his chocolate-covered face when you tried to take pictures of him. Andrew had you take a video of him chasing the sea gulls and all you could do was hope that one of them didn't poop on you.

Remember Broadway on the Beach. It was sunny and warm and we couldn't believe that weather like this could exist on March 2nd. No one was there, it being off-season, but you still found someone to take your picture on the bridge overlooking the lake. This was going to be thee vacation picture. Everyone looked pretty good...even Luke was looking and smiling at the camera. He was standing next to Andrew on a little platform and had his arms folded like an Indian chief. He looked so tall and confident. Usually strangers take awful pictures, but this guy actually did a great job and didn't cut off any heads or anything. Ouch, it hurts to remember this one! But at least I can still see it in my head.

Remember Luke and his Dad swimming together for the first time (because you are awful parents and haven't taken him swimming yet ...well, maybe once or twice but those times don't count). We went to the indoor pool and Luke had an absolute blast. You got a video of him kicking his legs and pretending to swim while Dad towed him around. Then you got in too (Mom) and played a game of tag that Luke thought was hilarious. Ouch, this one hurts too. Especially the video. Luke was laughing so hard and having such a good time. He had a permanent smile on his face. You should take him swimming more often.

And lastly, remember when you first arrived in Charleston, SC and were absolutely blown away at how beautiful it was?! You took waaaay too many pictures of all the houses and even got one of the concrete walkway next to the Atlantic Ocean where people run while getting sprayed by the waves hitting the high walls. You wanted to live there and go running next to the palm trees and the Atlantic Ocean every day. It was after this that all your pictures were accidentally deleted, and you almost cried. Then you tried to make up for it by taking lots more pictures. In fact, you once again took waaay too many pictures of all the beautiful houses. But walking around that city with your family and chit chatting with all the friendly southerners was just so much fun that you were scared to death of ever forgetting it...so you just kept snapping photos at every turn. You should live there someday...everyone should at least once.

And even though you didn't really take any pictures of the car ride, you should still try to remember it. Remember how messy your car gets during road trips? Sometimes you feel absolutely buried in stuff like it will all just bust out of the doors when you open them. You always make the goal to keep the car neat and organized but it all just goes south by the second or third day (or hour). Still, road trips are the best. Remember that Andrew made you listen to Nelly about a hundred times (but you really didn't mind cause you like it too and always play songs you like over and over again...like the new Linkin Park one). Remember when the car suddenly got quiet and you realized that Luke was watching Little Einsteins in French?! How in the world did he do that? And then you kept seeing a sign for Bojangles and made up about a hundred other possible uses for the word 'Bojangles' ("Are you bojangling me?!"). Remember how great road trips are for nice long conversations with your husband where you discuss/debate such unimportant things like whether or not the northwest passage was worth dying for and how West Virginia is sort of like a beautiful woman smoking a cigarette. You have some important talks too and hopefully those are the ones we never forget.

So Lauren, just because most of your pictures from your family vacation are gone, it doesn't mean that it didn't happen :) You had an unbelievable time because you were with the people you love to be around the most. And now you can always remember it.

Love,

Yourself.

p.s. sorry that you jump between 3rd and 1st person throughout this whole post but you wrote it at midnight so give yourself a break!