Nothing like a tropical storm to get me motivated to write again.  Hey, it's only been 2+ months.  I admit, it is odd to know that we are under a Tropical Storm Warning in the Gulf Shores area, where we arrived yesterday, because the sun is shining and it's a beautiful day.  The wind is enough to straighten or curl your hair (take your pick) and I admit it's a bit tempting to grab one of the boogie boards and head into the surf---riding just one of those waves would have to be amazing.  Of course, that's assuming I don't get pulled under by the powerful riptides and drown.

The older three boys are having as much fun as if they could get out in the ocean.  I was down at the beach, supervising their play on the cusp of the water.  They decided to sit at the edge of the surf and let the waves knock them down, all the while filling their trunks with copious amounts of sand.  Their elation made me smile and it was a memory in the making.  Not one that I have a photograph of, but I took an indelible picture with my heart.

As adults, I think we could all take a lesson from their sheer joy in what wasn't supposed to happen on their vacation.  They would love to be out in the water, riding their boards.  But I see them having as much fun, if not more, with their unplanned alternative.  Serendipitous, indeed.

With the advent of social media, especially Facebook, I am in constant awe at the amount of complaining I read about in status updates.  We are all entitled to an occasional bad day here and there, and there are certainly people who have real honest-to-God issues (illness, death, etc),  but so much of what I read about is minutiae----job complaints, misunderstandings and minor irritations.  Thanks to Facebook,  we can witness thirty-five year old adults throw a virtual temper tantrum.

Let's all take a lesson from the boys---even if the tropical storm gets a little sand in our shorts, let's not complain about now needing to take a shower or do a load of laundry.  Let's choose to be delighted, not depressed, by the change in OUR plans.  Because we all know, we really aren't in control anyway:)

PS---I can't get spellcheck to work, so hoping I found all the typos.