Well, back to normality after our get-a-way. It was so good to spend time with Kelsey and Marisa though...we spent 9 total days together, that hasn't happened in years, it was pretty special-almost like we got to know each other again. The sad thing is...I got my pictures developed and the first thing I thought of as I was looking through them was, there's a little boy missing from each and every picture. That put me in tears and crying for the last two days, but then again, this trip was our birthdays, xmas, graduations, special occasions, everything the girls and I have missed previously. I can't count how many times the girls said, "Thank you, Mom, this is so great of you to do this for our family." Not that they were mad about being left out while Trent was sick, not a chance; but they needed this as much as I did.
Marisa re-took her ACT (or is it SAT?) test before we left and got her score back when we went thru our pile of mail after getting home. She scored a 26!!! She had 2 more college acceptance letters, one was Winona State; she's still undecided but had a college visit last Monday. It's up to her what she wants to do but hope she decides soon.
We have many stories about our trip but here is the funniest one: the next morning after we got there we were down on the beach, looking to go for a walk and find 'stuff' that we read about and one of the resort workers asked if we needed any help. He got out a map and pinpointed where we were, where things happened, this and that. He asked how we got there, etc, then asked about the drive from Miami to Key West. I told him I didn't realize it was only 45mph the whole way down, there were cops at every little 'Key' that we passed thru and he said, "oh, that's due to the holiday." Well, I'm standing there in my shorts and swimming suit in 80 degree weather in the morning thinking 4th of July then Marisa asked, "What Holiday?" The guy said, "Uhhhhh, it's almost xmas?!" He must've thought we were totally nuts, it was so funny. Things weren't decorated down there, no Fa La La xmas music, nothing. Everything was open on xmas eve and day that we didn't even know it was; this is the reason we went there. On my birthday, the girls took me to Sloppy Joes for lunch, a restaurant/bar that was famous because of Ernest Hemingway. We met so many nice people down there, the girls met kids that were their age and they went to do stuff together, it was way better than expected. And to think that the weeks and days before we left, I was not looking forward to leaving, I felt as if I was leaving my Trent behind, but he was there...the Monarch Butterfly thing I mentioned in my last post.
The sun really made a huge difference also, sitting in the sun, by the water, the waves, it was so relaxing. No seasonal affective disorder down there. I did end up telling the guy that worked at the resort 'why' we were there so he didn't think people from MN didn't even know when or what holiday it was. So he's the one who set up the 2 hour jet-ski tour for the girls and a few other perks for us. The girls even got to scoot around on the jet-skis on their own after the 'tour' came back. They had so much fun. We met SO many nice people down there, from everywhere. I got many email addresses and people got mine so we could send our pictures back and forth.
Rex is so happy to be home yet he had a great vacation also.
Yes, there is a little boy, my son, my buddy, my best friend and the love of my life, that is physically missing from my pictures, but I'm so hoping that he was happy that I wasn't crying everyday. I miss him more than ever, I remember last year on this very day, I love him so much!!! And that will never EVER end. I would still do anything in the world to have him back with me: I would give up everything to have him back with me. Every day down there I was thinking, "Trent would've LOVED this, building sand castles, going parasailing again, throwing the soft sand at Marisa after she put on her suntan lotion, collecting shells. The girls gathered a few shells for Trent's collection so we got home and put them there. Oh my boy, my only son, my Trent: I love you and miss you more than anything in the whole world.
