Why there?

Way back in March of this year, the pandemic seemed to be letting up. There were rumors of “Life going back to normal” and things seemed to be opening up.

Taylor and I were feeling bored. After the rush of being pregnant with Mercy, the pandemic, having the baby, and getting through the holidays of 2020, things seemed slow around March.

Brian Maness was with me at Tumblebees around that time, and shared with me about their upcoming trip to Charleston, and that got me thinking- we need a trip to look forward to. That very night, I went home and looked up some destinations: Washington DC, Charleston, Wilmington, where could we go?

Taylor had the idea of going on a big trip, and asked my thoughts on having some friends join us, and since no one in the world had plans that far out due to the pandemic, we picked a date that worked from some friends.

And because looking at destinations is overwhelming, our friend Julie Cook helped us decide on a destination, and recommended Secrets Maroma Beach.

Some highlights

• Houston. Had caramel apples as his carry on on the flight to the beach.
• Sarah. Was able to plan childcare for the whole week the day before the trip when she learned that her own parents had covid. AND, Sarah’s visit to the “Rock Show”.
• Chad. Was very good at making friends at the pool. And very good at supporting Rachel.
• Rachel. Really enjoyed the sand. And rolling in said sand.
• Taylor. We have used the phrase “Mexico Taylor” to capture ALL of the fun we experienced on the trip.

Why so special

Back in Kindergarten at Irving Park, Houston and I may have been in the same class. We were however, in the same small group with Jimmy Renslow from 6th grade until we graduated, meeting every Tuesday.

Taylor was friends with us from 11th grade on, after we became christians, growing and striving together.

That small group I mentioned? Rachel was the younger sister of my friend that hosted the group.

Chad was a year behind us in college, but virtually lived with us his freshman year. He moved in his sophomore year.

Houston met Sarah in grad school. And Chad and Rachel got serious right after college.

That history is just a 25 year web of relationships and inside stories, all built on solid faith- through divorces, college, weddings, children, proms, graduations, girlfriends, jobs, houses, and a whole bunch of other junk in life.

We all live in the same town, but for whatever reason, it is near impossible to get us all in the same place at the same time between work, and keeping all of our kids without something contagious that would jeopardize a backyard hangout, for example. So this trip was something special.

what did you do?

Honestly, not much. We ate and drank a lot. Side note: on our last trip to Mexico, in the pictures it looked like I had a bit of a belly, and Taylor was looking GREAT! And since pictures are so long lasting, I didnt want to have pictures where I thought my stomach was too big- so I slowly lost a few pounds over 6 months- 12 pounds total. And, I gained 8 back that week 🙂

We just sat by the pool, sat by the beach, sat in the pool, ate by the beach, and basically mixed up variations of this over and over through the week. In the evenings, the resort had a few shows (see clip below). We went to dinner together around 6 each night if everyone was up for it, and had marriage time. Played beach volleyball. Taylor and I had a massage. Basically, we just enjoyed life without being parents for the week, and I forgot how nice it was to connect with people like that.

Alright, here are some pics of the week:

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