May 30, 2014: A Magical Mystery Bus Tour

I'm in Mexico.

And to be honest, I'm not quite sure how I got here.

April and May have been a whirlwind. Birthday milestones, work, graduations, honeymoon to San Diego....and now, Mexico.

Yesterday at lunch with colleagues, I was asked the question on where we were to stay on this trip. I wasn't sure. Garrett then asked about the airline and time of flight. Ummmmm...I wasn't sure. But I knew I had the paperwork handy, so could quickly check prior to our departure the next morning.

"Sandy, this is so not like you," was Garrett's comment to me.

I am the forever planner. I am always looking ahead and have my Outlook calendar implanted in my brain. But for this trip, I had completed lapsed. I really hadn't a clue on the details. Just that days were blocked off on my calendar. For Mexico. Somewhere in Mexico.

What I did know was that Zach, Ben and I had up-to-date passports and that a travel agent said we were good to go. No worries. But I have to agree with Garrett on this one. Not like me. At all. Flying blind is not a typical part of my mantra.

At 10:00 p.m. last night I told Garrett, our driver, that we had to be at the airport by 6:20 for a 7:22 flight. Minutes later Zach came into our room, disputing my takeoff claim. Following a detailed review of the itinerary, it was verified that we were indeed flying out at 5:45. Oops....

Garrett just shook his head in disbelief. It was obvious that my chaotic life had overtaken my organizational edge.

Traveling to the airport at 4:15 a.m., Garrett inquired on the other families who would be joining us. Ummmm....I could name a few. I came up with 5 families. Ben let us know there were 10 in total.

Although this all led us to a successful landing in Mexico, I do need to redeem myself before what feels like my jumping in front of the bus.

Last fall, in the heat of football season, Ben was hell bent that we "needed to get invited to Mexico with the football families". Like a child pleading for unattainable candy, I discounted his requests. Ben would explain to me how "the Koley's and the Weis' were going". He couldn't wrap his brain around why we were not yet invited to the destination vacation he so desired.

Ben would plead with me to ask for an invitation from the families organizing this trip. Per Ben, the list included a growing number of his friends and fellow football players.

"Mom, can you just ask Mrs. Koley if we can go too?" was a typical plea to me from my middle child.

As I explained to him, with the patience of parenting a toddler, that we were not going to invite ourselves to other's planned vacations, Ben couldn't understand why I just wouldn't ask. The reality was that I knew little about all my fellow football parents at the beginning of the season.

But by the end, we were one big family. At Senior night, the golden ticket arrived. We were asked to join the Mexico fun.

Ben's happiness on Senior Night last fall.

While we smiled by the field, the naked eye would think this was a basking of football night glory. The reality was that I had whispered in Ben's ear that we had received an official invite to the group trip. I said "yes". He was thrilled.

The Mexico trip was then planned by a travel agent and put on our collective calendars. Past my verification of passport expiration dates, Ben's forever planner of a mom did nothing else. Until last night.

We did make it to the airport on time. Thank-you, Garrett.

We have since arrived in Cancun. Thank-you, travel agent.

And then we were on a bus to our destination resort; that I had yet to research or even know the name.

As I sat at the back of the bus, counting heads of those in our party, a thought occurred to me. I was now getting my very own magical mystery bus tour. Just like I used to do for my kids.

When my kids were young I would take them on surprise trips. They hadn't a clue where we were going. Flying blind. I would call these little excursions, magical mystery bus tours. The kids would excitedly guess on our secret destination.

Now I was in their shoes. Not a clue where we were going. A magical mystery. As we sat on the bus to arrive at our resort destination, I counted a total of 39 heads. Quite the crew. 10 Skutt graduates and their families. A great touring group and a nice surprise. And as we all know; sometimes the unexpected adventures are the best......