because i was a patriot, i learned every patriotic song that has ever been written, plus one or two made up by my classmates or teachers. with the sheer volume of songs one would think that i would have to discard most of them out of my memory. including but not limited to the lyrics of yankee doodle, proud to be an american, what's more american, yadda, yadda, but every fourth of july those lyrics just seem to come out again. not once do i seem to miss a beat. i guess there is something to be said about training a child in the way they should go and when they are old they will not depart from it. somehow i don't think the proverb exactly meant patriotic songs, but i could be wrong, after all i am not a theologian.
so with the knowledge that i know every patriotic song known to man, we can now get down to business and talk about the fourth of july & all important details surrounding that trip.
on wednesday my dear friend, emily, took me to the airport to fly to memphis and then onto fort walton. i left NWA at 4:30 but had a three hour layover in memphis. upon arrival in memphis, i found my gate & made myself at home. diet coke, hummus, pita chips, and an apple kept me company. i made a few phone calls and played around on the computer. just waiting.
7:15 rolls around and i hear the delta representative over the loud speaker announce that the fort walton flight has been overbooked and she needed volunteers to give up their seats. she said she would offer a hotel and $100 voucher. it was not enticing enough for me to be willing to give up my seat. case in point, i'm probably selfish, but let's be real, i was on my way to florida. memphis for the night didn't seem all that appealing. a few souls made their way to the counter and off they went to redeem their hotel voucher and enjoy a night in the land of the delta blues. while on the phone with a friend, the lady came back on and had upped the ante a little bit. she offered a $300 voucher, meal voucher, and hotel. SOLD! i told her i would stay and especially after i found out i would get to fort walton at 10:00a.m. on Thursday morning just in time to jet to the beach and begin the vacation. after a little frustration over my bag and some other minor details i was on my way to the holiday inn. got a room, ordered room service, and talked to a friend until taking a nap for the night. that's right a nap because i had to be at the shuttle at 4:15 a.m. i got on my plane in memphis & made it to atlanta only to be delayed there for a little bit. finally made it fort walton around 10:45. dr. carmack & my dad picked me up and off we went to meet the crew at the beach. i was tired, but the voucher is worth it.
the vacation was fun! we had a beautiful villa & it was a blast to hang out with the hill & carmack family. we are all so excited about nate and amy's wedding in 4.5 weeks!! we ate too much, shopped too much, got a little too much sun, and laughed a lot. i adore my older brother and missed my other two brothers immensely.
one of the only blog-worthy stories of the week was an event that happened friday night. i was walking up from the beach to meet the family for dinner & was behind a family of four when all of a sudden i saw the woman go pale. she collapsed right in front of me. her husband scooped her up & told me to go get the ambulance that was about 500 yards away. it turns out that there was an emergency in a condo, so crazy, but such a blessing. i ran & got the paramedics out of the condo and had them follow me to the lady. they got her to the ambulance and immediately hooked her up to an IV, she was still unconscious. they made me leave due to the commotion of it all and the fact that i was a complete stranger. i stood back for a little while, breathing pretty hard from sprinting and the adrenaline rush. i was worried about this stranger. she was put into the ambulance and the rest is unknown. i prayed that she would be okay & was thankful to have been in the right place at the right time. in the chaos, i didn't even get to learn her name, but i guess that's just a part of life. sometimes we don't get to know all the details.
so, florida was fun!
it was a great trip with family & friends.
a fun celebration of the land that we love.
but difficult to return to the routine of life.
however the adventures continue for yours truly:
next week, i am off to LA! i've always wanted to be a california girl ;)
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