In a few weeks it will have been one year since I last left the country and one year since I last saw the ocean. This time last year Q and I were preparing to visit Punta Cana for a 10 day stay with a friend and her son who is the same age as Q. They were both 8 months old, sitting but not yet crawling, and it was the perfect age for this trip. At the time, Q still bedshared with me so we slept on a futon in the loft of my friend’s condo while she and her baby had the bedroom. We woke up early (thanks babies!) and went to a little cafe for coffee and huge donuts, we went to the pool, we went for walks, we read books, we cooked, we drank Presidente beer and we talked a lot. It was a vacation that would be impossible to recreate and I’m so glad that we went.
As someone who has left the USA at least once a year for the past 5 years, I’m a little sad that there are no international travel plans in the near future. Such is the reality of being a young family in a struggling economy. Hopefully our frugal living now will mean more beach vacations in the years to come. I’d love to go away with just my husband but I think we’d miss Q too much.
But still. I want to be in the sunshine and dip my toes in the sand. I want to dance with my husband on a plaza in the muggy night air. I want to see my daughter splashing in the surf.
Seriously. Where’s the beach???