When my daughter, Sarah, invited me to go on vacation with her family, I wasn’t certain if I was up to it. I took days to decide if I would participate. When I told my friend, Ricky, about Sarah and Bob’s kind invitation, her response was without hesitation. Ricky said, “Just say yes”! I’m so glad that I did say yes, as it was a wonderful getaway that included lots of family fun and interesting, new experiences. We went to the Pocono Mountains, staying near Stroudsburg, Pa. I shared a room with my 13-year-old grandson, Justin. Our room adjoined Sarah’s, which housed she and her hubby, Bob, three year old, Colin, and 9-month-old, Kyrstin. This arrangement was comfortable and allowed our fun to go on into the evening hours, as Sarah’s room provided a quiet place to put Kyrstin down at her bedtime, and our room was a place to congregate to play cards and just continue enjoying each others company until we were too tired to go on. Bob’s parents, Bob Sr. and Nancy, met us there and joined in on all the fun.
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| Justin, the best roommate and water-slide buddy ever! |
Our activities included two days at a huge water park called Camel Beach, which shared the Camelback Ski Resort area. There was fun to be had by water lovers of all ages. My favorites were the chairlift ride to the top of the mountain and back, with Justin as my escort. Another favorite was the family tube slide that Sarah, Bob, Justin, Colin and I shared, that had us screaming as we raced through nine breathtaking curves, as we spun and twirled down eight stories worth of elevation from beginning to end. As we went into each curve, it felt as though we were surely going to fly out of the slide. The most enjoyable and exciting water rides for me were enclosed tubes that Justin and I raced through on a double raft. One allowed light to seep through so that you could anticipate the curves and drops in elevation. Another was a black tube, that apart from a row of small drilled holes on each length of pipe, we traveled through in complete darkness, as we quickly descended and zipped through the curves. It was so much fun and brought out the kid that still lives inside of me! I like to think that Buck would be proud of me for not whimping out and for fully participating.
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| Chocolate covered Mr. Callie |
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| Three generations of smiles |
On our rainy day, we visited a small, family owned and operated pretzel factory, whose employees shaped and baked soft pretzels of every flavor and shape imaginable. The children also tried their hand at rolling and forming pretzels with colorful play dough. Then we traveled to a candy factory owned by the same family. The 76 year old owner, Harry Callie, talked to his customers and invited us the ask questions and sample his wonderful creations as we gathered around to watch and listen to his presentation. We watched a video demonstration of how he makes candy canes and other shapes of Christmas candy. We tasted his chocolate mixed with Honey Nut Cheerios, potato chips, a layered peanut butter and chocolate candy and even chocolate covered bacon crumbles! He was quite the interesting character. I had my picture taken with Mr. Callie. He put his arm around my shoulder and held his big chocolate covered hand next to my face.
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| My awesome family at Bushkill Falls |
On our last day in the Poconos, we went on a three-hour family hike at Bushkill Falls. Hiking usually gets my emotions stirred up as being in the woods brings back so many wonderful memories of fun and adventurous days spent with my Bofren. The sound of rushing water, the mist from the waterfalls and the woodland aromas of pine and rhododendron, bring favorite days gone by, to the forefront of my heart. Just being on a vacation without my Sweetheart had its’ share of pain, but not wanting to spoil “the present moments”, helped me to keep the tears to a minimum and push through. Our four days together were full of fun and pleasant distractions as I am choosing JOY and moving forward with the Lord’s help. I am so thankful for my family and for their generosity in wanting to include me in their vacation plan. I am especially grateful for the precious bonding time with my grandchildren. Thank you for being such an awesome roommate, Justin. It was so much fun being silly with you. You gave me many reasons to smile! Thank you, Lord, for all the "New Memories"! They are a new treasure to hold in my heart!
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