Jami Is Back Home

Ah, the end of vacation, with a mountain of laundry, pile of mail and full TiVo. I am always grateful to get back to my beloved bed, though I'm one of those folks who can pretty much sleep on any surface. One evening, sitting in the cabin with my family, I had a funny deja vu moment. We heard a noise outside and I looked hopefully toward the front door. It took me a few seconds to figure out what I had been hoping to see, and I hearkened (if that is indeed the right word) back to the days of family vacations of my teen years, and a persistent daydream I had way back then . . . Nothing is less cool, when you're a teen and even if you're not a cool teen, than being on vacation with your family. I have a postcard, written by M when we were in high school that says something like "I miss all my friends and I am so lonely and I can't wait to come home and see you all. It's beautiful here and we're having fun. See you soon." At the time, we probably both missed the dichotomy; I bet most teenage girls can tell you that it's possible to be having a good time and be totally miserable at the same time. Anyway, while on these vacations, I would imagine the object of my current crush somehow suddenly arriving where we were, to "rescue" me from the horrors of family time. He'd knock on our door, or just show up, finding me on the beach, or appear at the restaurant to declare his love and usually say something along the lines of "I didn't realize how much I loved you until you were so far away . . ." He'd spend the rest of the week with us and it would be the best vacation ever. Of course, most of the male leads in these fantasies hadn't seen me in the weeks (or months) since school had let out, and several probably would have been hard pressed to come up with my correct last name, let alone figure out how to track me down on vacation, but that never seemed to dampen my hope that the dream would one day come true. And would you believe, this time, it did? In fact, moments after I had looked at the door, remembered and chuckled at the silliness of a teenager's imagination - the Husband walked in, returning from an errand! He didn't rush over and sweep me up in his arms, declaring his undying love and begging me to never leave his side again, but I'll take it over the fantasy any day.