Da plane! Da plane!

I love flying. Sure, the delay can prove a bore or just inconvenient, but once in the air, what a great feeling. Soaring through clouds and blue, it's other-wordly. I guess I'm just happy when traveling. It doesn't have to be on a plane. I'm overjoyed on road trips, in a car or bus. Hell, I'll even hop on a donkey for a change of scenery! It's official. I am an addict. But only to adventure. I love the feeling of trying something new, heading to a new place, a new challenge. And I adore the whole process leading up to the trip. The clothes you pack, fitting it all in the bag, which for me is decidedly easier these days. And inevitably, you leave things behind that you wish you'd brought. But in the end, it's nothing but stuff. What's in the bag mere formalities. The real fun lies ahead in the perspective change, the sense of unknown, the beauty of seeing a new place for the first time, or rediscovering an old haunt.

I'm headed to Atlanta and tomorrow will be driving down to Florida for the annual Bockman beach week. Not only a plane ride, but also a road trip. SCORE! The family has been renting a house the last week of August on the Gulf side panhandle of Florida for the past 7 years. I've joined the crew for 3 of those years. It's Mama & Daddy Bockman, Beth, the eldest & her husband Robert, Elise, the middle sister, Rebecca, the baby, one of my best friends & coincidentally the reason I get an invite, and Nancy, one of Beth's college friends, & her husband Burt. We are the Bockman nine this year. And it's fun. Building memories with family and extended family. We eat gourmet meals and drink cocktails, sunbathe and relax.

It's interesting too, spending time with a girl family. Three sisters, a mom and the dad. My family seems to have always lived in a "man's world," Sportscenter and, well, Sportscenter. But with the girls, it's different. Refreshing and different. We discuss books and movies, and boys, of course. Dating and sex and shoes. HA! In my family shoe discussions are jokes! My dad has been known, on rare occasion, to model his most recent flip flop, but that's about the extent of it. It's just different, and I like it. It's a nice to see how the other half lives. But more than anything, it's nice to be with family.