Lickety Splitter has risen from the ashes of vacation ...

No, I did not fall off the face of our beleagured planet.  I was on vacation mainly in Beaufort, South Carolina.  More specifically, I rented a home on the marshes of the Broad River just outside of Beaufort, and ventured out from there to Savannah, Georgia and Bluffton,Hilton Head Island and last, but very certainly not least, Charleston, South Carolina.  Charleston is breathtakingly beautiful, and home to the Citadel where my friend Jordan very recently graduated.  Jordan, whom I just chatted with via IM, is now in Tallahassee (so much closer to my home) awaiting his first army assignment in Oklahoma.  He is a freshly minted 2nd Lt. and a fine young man.  I confess that Jordan is too young for me, but he seems to have a small crush on my personality, and I enjoy chatting online with him, so we have been chatting for over a year now.  He's totally sweet, and says that I should not discount his interest in me solely to our communication.  Yea yea ... I tell him ... if you sweet man and I were closer in age, I would keep you for my very own. 

I don't really feel like chatting about my vacation .... all I can say is that it was a blur of activity followed by some serious crashing at day's end.  The whole low country region is a visual stimulant, and I'm coming down from its intoxicating high.  In other words, I have the post vacation blues.  That's the bad thing about traveling for me.  I always experience a restless readjustment back to my day to day routine.

Today, my day was cut in half by a lunch invitation, so I didn't get a lot accomplished other than mowing the lawn and taking my new (old) water bird prints for re-matting.  My brother called this morning and asked me to drive to Tallahassee with him.  He needed some sort of epoxy or something ... for a boat he says he is building.  I couldn't accept his invitation because of my previous luncheon engagement.  I really wish I had taken a raincheck on the lunch invite, because I really would have rather spent a whole day with my brother, than spend a couple of hours at lunch.

However, it is my birthday tomorrow, and if my friends are thoughtful enough to invite me to lunch, how can I say ... "Oh thanks so much for asking, but no thanks, having lunch with you will chop my remaining vacation day in half."  I had visions of an all day hiking excursion or the day trip with my brother, but just because one's birthday is only a day away, does not mean one can do whatever one wishes.  Birthday people have to be considerate of others who wish to honor them with birthday wishes.  I realize that I am sounding a bit ungrateful, but I would like to assure you that I am not.  I am totally grateful for all of my friends and my family members who are sweet enough to think of me and spend time with me.  I love being loved, so I shoved my hiking desire back into its corner, told my brother that I already had plans, and honored the honor bestowed upon me by some of my very sweet friends.

Tomorrow, my sister and my niece have invited me out to lunch for my birthday.  What's with people?  Doesn't anyone ever go to dinner anymore?  Why yes, some of them do, because now, I have a birthday dinner engagement for tomorrow night, and an invitation to dinner on Sunday night.  Extended festivities, that's usually how my birthday goes.  I certainly won't go hungry over the next few days, that's for sure.