Toes in the sand

Sixteen out of the past 20 years, I have spent the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas soaking up the sun, obtaining a deep, dark winter tan, as I basked on the pink sand beaches of Aruba. Eammon, being the very white English/Irish boy that he is, has spent 6 out of the past 8 years we've been together, soaking up the sun, obtaining a distinctively pink-milky-white color as he basked on the very same Aruba beach.

But this year, we decided to forgo our beach holiday because we expected to travel to China before Eammon's vacation year ended on April 30th. It was worth saving most of his vacation time for a trip that was far more important and special than another trip to paradise. But, delays in referrals now make travel to China before the end of Eammon's vacation year impossible.

So, last night Eammon and I were talking, saying how bummed we each were over the referral delays. I complained about how I am not enjoying the cold weather, even though we've had maybe two days of it thus far and how I wasn't looking forward to going through the winter looking all pasty white. Eammon said it was too bad we hadn't planned on taking our annual trip and wondered if it was something that we could still do, without breaking the bank.

Much to my surprise and delight, this morning I was able to obtain frequent flyer tickets for both of us to Aruba. Though I couldn't get tickets that allowed us to be down there the full time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we will still have 2 full weeks to soak up the sun. Before booking the tickets, I called my parents to see if they would like some last minute visitors and they said yes, so tickets have been booked!*

Now the upside of referral delays; Aruba in December...Yeah baby!!!

* Good thing I was on the ball and have all of my holiday shopping completed. Being a little obsessive sometimes pays off!