A day at the beach

We got here. We are alive and tired. We woke up and hit the road by 3:15 AM to make sure to get on an earlier flight and made it no problem. When we boarded the plane I noticed this cute little flight attendent with adorable hair. She was not wearing a wedding ring and I guessed her to be a young, single, footloose and fancy free girl. As the flight progressed I started to chat with her a little bit...ya know, kind of living vicariously through her, and she informed me that we would not have to be deplaning on our layover in Atlanta. This plane was going straight through to Sarasota. I said, "That's GREAT! I'm so excited!" Because obviously it is very exciting to avoid transfering all your crap to another plane with 3 kids in tow. She replies with "I KNOW! It IS exciting. My friend is getting on in Atlanta and we arrive in Sarasota around 10:30 am. I don't have to leave until tomorrow morning so we are spending the day at the beach!!" oooo...twinge of jealousy. Seriously...a day at the beach. With your best friend. And no children. A pina colada in hand. Relaxing in the sun with no worries of a child drowning or getting kidnapped. I cannot even fathom this. WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE?!?! I remember those kind of days like it was yesterday! This prompted me to look around me...at the college student one row up and to my left. She was obviously working on some sort of anatomy paper. twinge. Maybe she was studying to be a doctor? I don't know. And then there were the two guys ahead of me who were obviously excited to start their vacation...which looked to be very exciting! twinge. They each ordered a drink and proceeded to flirt with the cute, beach-going, flight attendent. Repeatedly.
And then I looked down at myself. Baby attached to my boob, 6 year old asleep on my arm. 4 year-old picking up a completely emptied box of crayons off the airplane floor while claiming her need to go to the restroom for the third time in thirty minutes. I had coffee stains running down the front of my sweatshirt...the sweatshirt that strangely smelled like an infant's vomit and I reached into my pocket only to find a handful of smashed goldfish crackers. 3 kids. Oh my. Where has the time gone?!? But my foul-smelling, stained sweatshirt read "Life is Good"...a reminder sent directly from Lyn. I started laughing. For just a minute I got caught up in the madness and for a fleeting moment began thinking maybe the grass was greener on the other side. I almost lost my mind. Because as I sit here tonight with Ayla giggling up at me and my kids and amazing family sound asleep with rosy cheeks and shoulders, I know that I would never, EVER, not for even one day at the beach, trade this life with anyone. Life is more than good around here right now. I love my husband, my kids, my friends and my circumstances. So although my day at the beach looks so very different from the cute little flight attendent's, I wouldn't trade it for the world!