Old Friends, Bob Marley, and a TV Challenge- Follow closely people. This could get confusing.

It’s Friday so that means it is time for The Song of the Week. No, you have not missed anything; I just started this weekly tradition today. I had positive feedback (and song ideas) after posting the Shiny Happy People video last week so I decided to make it a Friday routine. Unless I am feeling totally uninspired, I will try to pick a song that fits with the post content that week or my mood in general. I might even pick a song from a reader comment from the week before, so leave comments with song ideas!

If you did not read my post yesterday, click HERE to catch up on the July challenge that I accepted from Alex at Late Enough. It will be a Battle of the Mommies and I am pretty sure I will win. I encourage you to sign up too. We can all commiserate together each Thursday at Alex’s site.

And now a story for your Friday reading pleasure:

RE and her husband are very special friends. We have known each other for almost 20 years and vacationed together annually for 10 of those years. Our annual trips to the Outer Banks with several other couples were really special times we had together. The tradition began before any of us had children. We had a lot of fun on the beach, sharing meal duties, enjoying cocktails on the deck while watching beautiful sunsets, reading, watching storms roll in, playing board games, and more. And, each year without fail, Bob Marley would be played.

In that 10 year span we started having babies. The activities stayed the same, but we started packing diapers and bottles with the board games. Then a few years later, kiddie crafts, Barney videos, and beach toys were added to the list. It actually became more enjoyable with the addition of children. We had an opportunity to rediscover the wonders of the beach with our kids as our guides.

When the oldest kids in our group became school age and one of the couples moved to the midwest, our annual trip ended; it was just too hard to coordinate. We have wonderful memories of these vacations together and lasting friendships were built from the experiences.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because the car is packed and I am ready for an adventure. Monkey and I are picking up Princess Daisy from her last day of architecture camp and then we are driving to have a mini-vacation with RE, her husband, and their daughter. We have a fun weekend planned and I can’t wait to give each of them a big hug, relax, and connect.

The ocean won’t be our backyard on this trip, but time spent with old friends is what I want most this weekend.

And maybe some Bob Marley.

Happy Friday!