Nothing But Family

I am none too happy that I am just now getting around to writing this blog, yet here I am and here it goes!!!

Last year, while driving in the car, my sister said to me, "I want to see my brother." Her voice wasn't somber or concerned. It was the voice of a sister who simply missed life with her brother. After talking for a few moments about it, we hit dial on the contact list in my phone and heard ringing throughout the car. After a few seconds, her brother answered! (Yes, he's my brother too but for this sweet moment, we will let him be hers). We told him our plan to meet up, of course he was down and that is how the Annual Peacock Siblings Trip was born!

At that point, I hadn't seen my brother in about six years. Distance does that to people. I had traveled out to our home state of California over the years but for some reason or another our schedules didn't align so that we could see each other. Talking and laughing with my brother and sister that day on the phone was pure delight. It was a reminder to me that time waits for no one. You have to do what you have to do to make things work, on all sides. Six years was way too long.

We decided that March would be our vacation month. Mostly because as a teacher, my spring break is in March and it is easier for me to be off. I am thankful that they considered that but no matter what time of the year we had chosen, I would have been there. Last year we stayed neutral and hung out here in Florida where my sister and I live. However, in 2023, just two weeks ago, we took this party to Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Gatlinburg was my sister's choice. She has always wanted to visit this sleepy town in the mountains and that was that! We stayed three nights in a beautiful cabin about halfway up a mountain. We were very close to the parkway which made it easy to visit both Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. To say that we had a blast is a total understatement. We slept in late, hung out until the wee hours of the morning and ate any and everything we wanted!

What started out as siblings simply wanting to spend time together has turned into a lifetime tradition that we hope to pass on to our children. Each of us vacation with our spouses, children, grandchildren, and friends who ask us to join them on some adventure or another but let me tell you, there is just something about spending time with the immediate brothers and sisters you grew up with. There are no distractions. You don't have to attend to a crying baby or toddler, no teenagers asking for money or wifi passwords, no spouses asking what you want to do next. It is just you, your brother and your sister hanging out, being the people you were before marriage, kids and life took over.

I would highly recommend it! My sister will always be my sister and my brother will always be my brother but when you can peel back all the stuff we've put on as growing adults and get back to being our parents' children, yeah, that's a whole different ball game.

I don't know if this was my idea or my sister's but Lord, I am here for it for however long I have left in this life. Vacationing with the two closest people who've known me my whole life is truly something special. By the way, we let Freddie P. pick the next vacation spot and it is going to be one heck of a trip! Just wait until you see where we land next!

All my love to Angela and Frederic