Crickets, Sunburn, and Michael Buble

10 hours plus 2 in two days and summer has officially touched us. After a few hours in the Emerald Coast, the Florida sun has kissed our skins to deep red. My freckles (or my sun spots as I call it) are emerging like the stars in the deep dark night – only they are red spots not the pretty twinkling lights. What a perfect Sunday! Sun, beach, and sand. I choose to forge the  algae (or seaweed, really doesn’t matter, they were all green).

Look at my view for today.

(Iphone 6S Plus photo by Vian Wheatley)

And tonight, I hear the crickets in this hot and humid Alabama night alongside the shrieks of my boys swimming in the hotel pool. The stars are not out but the night predators (aka bugs) are out for blood. The bugs think they are scoring big on their new Asian dinner.

This is going to be our new tradition for the next four years. A quick getaway between the two very humid states as we watch our daughter bloom into a young adult. I still do not know how I feel about her moving on to college so far away from home. Will I cry? They tell me I would.

The next two days will be a new journey for all of us. She is officially making her first big move towards freedom – college orientation and registration. Exciting times for her and for us but it is making me sad at the same time. My little girl has grown up. It is time for her to rise up and shine. I have always told her that her future is so bright she just has to see it for herself. I am actually excited for her in this new chapter of her life.

I have to end this post now because the bugs are having a feast around me. I end this with Michael Buble’s “Feeling Good” on repeat in my head. I hope you are also ending this day on a high note because you are feeling good!

Birds flying high

You know how I feel

Sun in the sky

You know how I feel

Reeds driftin’ on by

You know how I feel….

It’s a new dawn

It’s a new day

It’s a new life

for me

And I’m feeling good

I’m feeling good