Sanibel Island

 This fall my mom's friend, Kay, asked if mom and us girls wanted to rent her condo for a week in January in Sanibel Island.  We were all hesitant.  Mom had suffered her 2nd stroke on Sept. 26 and October and November were hard months for us.  Mom wrote Kay a check for the condo in November and all of us held our breath and crossed our fingers we would be able to go.  As we approached the big day we all felt good about the trip.  Kim was the perfect pre-travel care giver, making sure mom had all of her diabetic supplies and pills before we left.  On the day we left mom was wearing her same travel suit (see picture above) that she wore in April on our trip to Texas!  Doesn't mom look fantastic?  She had an awesome time in Sanibel and so did Kim and I.  The Lord blessed us immeasurably with this trip.  It was exactly what the three of us needed.  It gave us time to connect with one another, laugh with one another, and relax (boy did we relax!).  We had no agenda and no schedule.  Kim and I joked that as long as the sun was out, we were soaking it up and by noon we usually made our first cocktail.  Needless to say I will be drying out this week, ha!

 On our first Saturday in FL, we stayed with mom's friend, Marcia.  We woke up that morning and it was gorgeous.  Kim and I took a walk together to get coffee.  For two girls who have lived their entire lives in Illinois, to wake up in mid-January to sun and a temperature of 65 is mind blowing especially knowing our families were back home dealing with a huge snow storm.  This trip confirmed how much I hate winter.  I get it, hate is a strong word but this girl is over cold Illinois winters.  I intend to spent the next 10-15 years figuring out how Mike and I can move somewhere warm in retirement - permanently!  Ha!

 Mom and her sweet friend, Marcia!  Marcia and her husband, Jim, were so warm and kind.  They cooked for us, housed us and let us use their pool.  It was a wonderful way to begin our trip.  Notice all the sun in these pictures.  It didn't rain once on our trip.  Everyday it was at least 65 degrees and sunny!  What a blessing!

 We even got in some therapy while in Florida, although not much.  I'm sure it was nice for mom and Kim to not have to think about therapy - the first time in 7 months!

 One morning we got up and went to a farmer's market.  It was a unique farmers market.  Once again the weather was beautiful.  This farmers market had desserts, fruit, veggies, home remedies and even clothing.

 We didn't spend a lot of time at the beach, mostly because it was a pain to drag all our stuff, but the few times we went, we had a great time.

 We spent a lot of time in and at the pool.  Sadly our own condo's pool was closed so we used another condo's pool.  We quickly learned, however, if we wanted "good" sun we had to get there in the morning because by 2pm the tree line prohibited any good sun.  Bo-hoo.  Kim and I would usually head back to our condo and set up lawn chairs in the yard.  Yep, we were "those people."

 Kay, Mom and Kim.  I love this picture because everyone looks so happy and we were!  One of my best memories from the trip was on our first day.  We had left Marcia's and we're on our way to Sanibel.  As I drove over the bridge to Sanibel, the sun was shining, the water was glistening, the sun roof on our rental car was open and there was a comfortable breeze.  Kim was navigating the route for me and my mom was in the back seat with a huge smile on her face as she exclaimed, "I'm just happy!"  And we all were.  

 One of my favorite pictures from our trip!  We all loved the tree in the background.  It had to be at least 200 years old.

 Kay, Mom and Jan.  It was a treat to have mom's friends on this trip.  Kim and I enjoyed getting to know them better and mom enjoyed chatting with them.

 Our last night on the Island we went to the beach to watch the sunset.  We all got a little too much sun our last day.  As Kim and I went to bed that night she said, "I feel a little crispy!"  And crispy we were but so worth it.  Ha.

 One morning (so that it didn't get in the way of our sun time) we rented a quad bike and went bird watching.  Faith Russell went with us as she is the bird expert.  This was probably our one adventure that didn't quite go as planned.  Mom's blood sugar took a nose dive and despite our protests mom pedaled the bike which wore her out quickly and didn't help her blood sugar.  But we did it and we took the picture as evidence that we got it accomplished.  Ha.

 We ate at The Bubble Room!  What a memorable dinner that was.  I'll never forget my sister enjoying her meal and then regretting it but acknowledging it was worth every bite.  She came home that evening and could hardly move and was snoring by 8:00.  Most nights Kim and I would stay up and laugh together but not on this particular night.  One thing Kim and I laughed about all week was how this was our "Shady Pines Vacation."  Shady Pines is a fictional retirement home referenced on "The Golden Girls."  Kim and I might have been some of the youngest people on the Island by like 30 years!  We were surrounded by retirement age people and we loved it.  We said our "Shady Pines Vacation" was our best yet!  We loved the quietness of it all and no one was ever in a rush.  Plus on nights when we crawled into bed at 8:00 (which was most nights) we didn't feel guilty.  We figured half the Island had already been asleep for a good hour already.

Thanks mom for a wonderful vacation!  It was such a lovely time.  I could go on and on but truly this vacation will forever hold a special place in my heart, Kim's heart and Mom's!