Jonesbones5 
The Epic Honeymoon Getaway
Oh my goodness, I am so excited. I tried to resist packing my bags yesterday, because it seemed a little early, but…yeah…I am a crazy bride again, and I gave in. I packed my bags six days early.
In less than a week, Steve and I are leaving for vacation; just the two of us.
It’s been a few years since we ventured off into the world without our kids to have multiple days together. The last time we did an epic vacation together, longer than a weekend (and without our kids), was in 2006. We went to Greece for our 15 year anniversary. Greece was one of the best marriage moments of our lives. I have so many amazing memories from that trip. That trip helped glue us together for the next few years.
Looking back now, we needed that glue, because we had to walk through some big changes shortly after. Financially, in 2008, we took a big hit, and when you take a hit in the finances, your marriage has to endure a lot of money talks. So, we had to work it through and come up with plan B. Plan B involved a whole lot of trust in God, and me going back to work full time. Now, years later, our finances are back on track, we are helping our kids go to college, and I am humbled by the fact that God was so faithful to us through all the years.
After our Greece trip in 2006, Steve and I decided to focus our frequent flier miles program on our kids. We knew our time with our kids at home was getting shorter, so we used our vacations and miles to show the girls the world. We had amazing adventures! 
This year, in my 50th EPIC year of life, I wanted a trip with just him again. It’s not too far off before the two of us are going to have an empty house without kids. Our lives are now in a constant state of change. As the girls grow up and the house gets empty, it’s just going to be us again soon.
When our kids were little, Steve and I would occasionally take off together for a week or a weekend. Granted, we had our moms to help watch the kids. They are the best grandmas in the world!
We did Paris one time over a long weekend; we did Greece, Hawaii, Mexico and a bunch of local stuff too. These were always the most amazing marriage moments for us because we had nothing else to do but focus on each other. During those trips, we didn’t have to deal with parenting problems, or even the chores of home. Work was left behind and it was just the two of us to discover an adventure, and be with each other, and have those days of feeling like newlyweds again. We had a lot of fun.
Oh sure, sometimes we fought on our vacations, especially that first time in Paris when I tried to wake Steve up at 5 am to get the day started. We learned a lot about each other on these trips. I learned that Steve would never get up at 5 am on vacation, unless it’s to go scuba diving or skiing. The Eiffel Tour can wait until 10 am. He learned that I like to see it all, and sleep was not important to me unless I was home and it was the middle of winter, and raining in the northwest. On vacation, I wake up early and just stare at him until he wakes up.
Our trips have helped us weather the storms. Parenting is hard, and so is marriage. Marriage takes work and sacrifice, and children can often become the primary focus of life to the point it’s easy to forget about the marriage. I think, as a mom, you can become strung out and tired, and forget that you are the beautiful bride of your husband. All those days of cleaning up messes, drying up tears, making dinner, working, walking the dog, going to the plays, the concerts, selling Girl Scout cookies, hosting slumber parties, and then cleaning up the messes again, it’s simply hard to feel like a beautiful blushing bride.
And then marriage. You have the finance talks, the budgets, the disagreements on parenting, the travel, the coming home and reentry, the days you feel connected, and the days you don’t. You deal with grumpy wives and grumpy husbands, and grumpy kids and then it’s tempting to go off and be alone.
So it’s good to get away, together. It’s good to go on dates, or escape away over a weekend, and even better when you find yourself on a warm beach for a week, far away, with the sun above, the sand between your toes, listening to the slaps of the waves, with your lover by your side. It’s good to sit on the steps of Sarcre Coeure with a loaf of french bread, cheese and chocolate truffles and enjoy the view of Paris as you sit close and snuggle with the one you love. It’s good to sleep late and open the windows, and let the warm breeze of the Mediterranean fill the room, and lie there in each others arms. It’s good to have dinner in the small corner restaurant, and sit in the corner, and talk about your dreams again.
It’s time to get away together, and let the world stop, and let a Modern English song play.
I’ll stop the world and melt with you
You’ve seen the difference and It’s getting better all the time
You’ve seen the difference and It’s getting better all the time
It’s over 23 years of getting better all the time. Over 23 years of amazing memories with this man. 
I am so ready to be with him for 13 days straight and make more memories with him. Let the Honeymoon begin. We are heading to Portugal and Spain!
2 Comments on “The Epic Honeymoon Getaway”
Leave a Reply
My Flickr Photos
Welcome to our Life
Thanks for visiting our blog. Here you will find stories of our family, our travel, our faith and our mission. We are on a journey to serve Christ and to journey through this life.
Jonesbones5 
Pingback: » The Epic Honeymoon Getaway
Great choice of destination! We hope you’ll have a fabulous time.