Rob #9 - Don't Stop Believin'

[Rob1231]

Hi gang, SD poked me over on her thread, no updates in a while, so here I am! Lessee...

We went with another family on vacation to the beach a couple weeks back. We have not vacationed with other people before, it was a "learning experience". Overall, we had a lot of fun and it was cool to have other people around. However, we discovered that we fell into two camps for "vacation styles". I, W, the other dad, and the D13 from the other family are all about Vacations are for doing fun activities. My D16, the other mom, and the D15 and D17 from the other family are all about Vacations are for INactivity. Not the best mix! I guess the good news is that W realized I was in the "right" camp!

Now that the second-vacation-in-two-months is over, W is making "I'm bored let's plan out every weekend for the rest of the summer" noises. Is there no satisfying this woman!? Ah, well, what's a guy to do - except get with the program and help line up people and fun activities. A tough job, but somebody's gotta do it. (Seriously, the [censored] stuff has given me a good perspective on this and how to deal with it.)

D16 has had her ups and downs lately. On the plus side, she started her first job, as a lifeguard at the local YMCA. Glad to see her taking on the extra responsibility. On the minus side, she has decided her future - she wants to be a European History teacher, and immediately jumped to the conclusion that the ONLY acceptable place to study this as an undergrad is in Cambridge in the UK. Three serious problems with that - her grades are merely average, mom and dad do not believe she is (or will be) mature enough to live in Europe in a couple of years, and mom and dad do NOT have the money to pay for that even if she managed to get into the school. Trying to talk sense into her is viewed as "crushing my dreams". I am successfully stepping back from the issue, but am having a hard time keeping W from jumping in with both feet to try to "fix" it.

Work is really hectic and challenging. OTOH, had my 20th anniversary with this company last week, though - got me feeling again like I need to get my butt moving out the door. We all just know each other too well after all this time - it's like working every day with your family!

Finally, went out bike riding with W and a friend on Saturday. Had a terrific time until a squirrel darted into the road in front of W. Lots of screaming and zig-zagging later, I was face-first on the pavement with scrapes all down my right side. Fortunately I was wearing a helmet - could have been MUCH worse. Just learned today that the X-rays taken yesterday showed I do NOT have a broken nose or wrist - whew! This was my first scary bike accident after several years of riding, happy to say I am bouncing back well and we are already lining up a big group ride for this coming weekend.