My husband is without a doubt the easiest going man I know and he always goes above and beyond to show me that he loves me so I always feel like I need to do something special for him particularly on his birthday.  As I mentioned in other posts, he works away from home so he misses a lot of special days like Christmas, our Anniversary, Valentine’s Day, Thanksgiving…..you get the drift?  Well, this year he will be home for his birthday so I asked him what he wanted and I told him I wasn’t going to buy socks and underwear which is the only thing he ever asks for, after some consistent prodding he said he would like to go away for a few days somewhere.  After clarifying that he didn’t want to go alone, I got excited as he usually says taking trips are kind of a waste of money (although I do talk him into travelling occasionally and he always has fun once we get there) but still, it’s usually my idea. This time it was his idea and  I knew I wanted something special for him, he works hard for our family and always puts us and our needs / wants before his own so I wanted it to be somewhere nice and there wasn’t enough time for Mexico hence I knew it had to be close to home and then we had to decide when.

The “when” proved to be difficult for a couple of reasons though since our daughter and her husband and their little sweetheart have been living with us for the last year while they were building a house.  Their house was now finished and they were just waiting to get occupancy so they could move in leaving us to figure it out quickly or I would have to get a dog sitter on short notice, which would be next to impossible.  We also wanted to be sure we were available to help them with the move and since my hubby is home for only 2 weeks, our options were limited.  We finally found 2 days that would work for everyone though and off we went to the West Coast of Vancouver Island.

Now, it is only 2 ½ hours to get to the other side of the island but it may as well be a ten-hour plane trip it is that different from the side of the island that we live on (the east coast).  We have beautiful beaches but on the West Coast they have amazing beaches and I mean it when I say amazing!  There is nothing between the West Coast of the island and Japan making the scenery different and in the winter, it is storm watching season so the waves are incredible to watch rolling in.  We stayed in a remote beachfront lodge and spent 2 days exploring the beaches, we watched movies, walked, laughed and came home feeling refreshed and relaxed.  I don’t know what it is about the ocean that we find so relaxing but the sound of the waves and watching the rollers break and curl is mesmerizing.  There were even some winter surfers out giving us a show!

Since we don’t get many opportunities to sneak away by ourselves, I will take whatever I can get and will enjoy every minute of it!  Just remember:

Life is short……

Laugh.  Be grateful, breathe deep, appreciate, hug tightly, keep promises, dream big, share happiness, love unconditionally, make wishes, help others, do your best, have hope, keep your chin up, speak kindly, learn, play, cherish, read, smile! (author unknown)