flexability - with a capital F

This weekend my sisters, Allie, my baby nephew Asher, and a friend went away for the weekend. My sister, Emily, was going away for a "weaning weekend" (She was ready to wean her baby from nursing.), and the rest of us were along for a Girls' Weekend... Here was the plan, as far as I understood it:

Friday - Go to 6 Flags from 4 -10
Saturday - Meet up with Mom & sister-in-law to go shopping and go to a movie then sit in the hot tub at the hotel
Sunday - More shopping and hanging out

None of it happened that way.

First of all, before I even left home, Corey got really sick. I hated to leave him alone with the boys, but the hotel was paid for and I didn't want to stand my sisters up!

On the way to meet everyone on Friday I happened to call 6 Flags. They informed me that we could come, but that they would be closed. So we decided to go to 6 Flags the next night, and Friday night we just ate dinner at Anamia's and joined the hundreds (literally!) of unattended, obnoxious teenagers (Yes, I am an old lady that is annoyed by obnoxious teenagers.) at the quaint little outdoor shopping center as we enjoyed our Starbucks and the pretty Christmas lights. (By the way, one of those sweet little obnoxious ones stole my daughter's drink right off the counter and walked out the door. The barista said it happens all of the time.) We could have sat in the hot tub when we returned to the hotel except that it was closed for repairs. Big fat bummer! My sisters and I LOVE hot tubs!

Saturday morning we relaxed a bit too long before getting ready to go shopping. By the time we finally left the hotel, sat through a Christmas-shopping-traffic-jam on the main freeway in town, looked & looked for a parking place at the mall, and met our family, it was time for a late lunch. We ate, did a bit of shopping for flip-flops, dolls, & clean rings before leaving the mall. After a stop or two and braving that freeway again, we were finally off to 6 Flags. We joined an enormously large crowd at the park. Emily was in pain from the adventure that she had committed to, but she was determined to ride a roller coaster. They all stood in line for 2 hours to ride The Titan while I took Asher & Allie on a train ride around the park. It was fun to look at lights and sing Christmas carols with the "Clause sisters". After that, I watched Allie ride another ride then we met up with the sisters to ride 2 more rides together. That was it! The park was then closed.

This morning we ate a yummy breakfast at the hotel then packed up and headed home.

Allie and I had a nice long talk on the way home about being flexible and expectations. Funny. That seems like my theme of the week.

I arrived home to poor Corey. Still sick but such a trooper. He was drying the baby off from giving him a bath as I walked in the door. He had arranged for Jack to get to and from his game Saturday, fed and bathed the boys, let Jack have the neighbor sleep over, and had kept everyone happy and healthy while I was gone. I love that man! He was so graciously flexible in not complaining that I was leaving him while he was really sick, and the boys were so flexible as they ate cereal for almost every meal this weekend and helped take care of Daddy and each other.

So, as it turns out, we all learned the same lesson this weekend. It is not a fun one to learn, but it can be okay when you are sharing time with the ones that you love.