Dream Vacation

Stop reading this right now unless you're ready to sink up to your nipples in envy.

This time tomorrow I will not be sitting here at this keyboard, alternately writing doggerel and staring out the window. I shall be above the clouds, preparing to touch down in a place many hear about, but far fewer ever dream of visiting.

Kokomo, Indiana.*

My parents, whom I love dearly but who can be...vat is ze vort in English...nutty, have decided to leave their sleepy backwater of Washington, DC and move to a house located conveniently (for them) between a grass airstrip and a cornfield.

Of the two attractions, the airstrip is the greater. My father flies planes as a hobby (breeding polo ponies takes up too much room) and in this particular huddle of houses, everybody has a hangar in the backyard. You think I am kidding, but I kid you not.

I don't get it, but as my sister and I see it, this is our folks' first move ever that is based on doing something they want to do, rather than what they feel they must do. Our young lives were spent with the U.S. Air Force knocking us hither and thither like a pinball. After that, there was another move (to Pennsylvania) to tend to my grandma, then another to (to DC) to take advantage of a good job opportunity.

The moving didn't bother me much , but I can't imagine it was fun for them. However, they never worried or complained in front of us. They put on brave faces and made the best of it.

That was their modus operandi with everything. For example, my mother never had nice furniture, and my father never drove new cars, but my sister and I always went to the best school available wherever we lived. They never made noise about it, so it wasn't until I was out of college that I realized how they must have sacrificed.

This house is suits them, and it's about time. While I might wish they had taken a shine to Mallorca or Provence, after 36 years of marriage I think they've grown enough to do as they please.

*It's only for two days, and as a bonus my sister is coming to Chicago to stay for the whole weekend. Hurrah! So no blogging until next week. But there should be lots to report.