Yesterday we bailed.

The phone was ringing off the hook like it was punishing us for some hidden sin. The doorbell rang so often I wanted to rip it off the wall and eat it. Everyone in our house was grumpy (me too). Things have been…. well… tough lately. In school. At workplaces. In life. So while Shauna crashed into a much needed late afternoon nap, I made a decision.

We had to get outta there.

We’re not frivolous spenders, we’re not usually whim people. But enough was enough. I let Shauna sleep for an hour, then prodded her from la-la land to whisper the plan: “We’re going out for supper and then we’re taking the kids to Prince Caspian.” Homework? Who cares. Could we afford it? Who cares. Everybody into the van!

We got Little Caesar’s pizza ($5 for a medium x 2, you can’t beat that) and a Wendy’s taco salad for Shauna, slurpees from the Mac’s corner store, and went and flaked out on blankets by a nearby manmade lake. The kids (that includes me) explored along the shoreline and found treasures and we just hung out with nothing in particular to do for about an hour. Then went to the movie.

It felt like a vacation.

At some point during our picnic, I asked Shauna, “At which point during this year did we forget that we need this kind of thing regularly?” Not the spending, the free time where phones and doorbells can’t ring. The family time. It was so rich spending the evening doing stuff we love… together.

Did I mention I love my family?