By Kathy Banaszak
http://www.kathybanaszak.blogspot.com/
E-mail: kathybanaszak@wi.rr.com
Dan waits for just the right moment and quietly sneaks up from behind on Nick....POW!
That familiar psycho grin and crazed twinkle in Dan's eye lets Nick know it's time for the games to begin. Nick immediately obliges, returning some friendly fire. It's been six long months since these two have seen each other and that means one thing: "Fight Club"!
Welcome to the Banaszak family vacation. Nick and Dan have both made the trip to Virginia Beach to watch their sister, Becky, walk across the stage this weekend to receive her Master's degree in Journalism. (It also happily coincides with Mother's Day weekend). We've all been looking forward to this family vacation for months.
Our digs are great, with the Atlantic Ocean right outside our door. We're all raring to go make a splash (literally), as well as some memories to take back home.
All grown up and living on their own (Nick in Huntsville, AL and Dan in Chicago), these boyish rituals remain remarkably the same since both were just little tykes. The cordial rough and tumble is laced with some friendly "trash talk" as our boys (make that "young men") settle down for some serious Euchre competition. Ready to once again test their mettle and wits, they spend the next hour literally laughing out loud. Music to a mother's heart.
Finally it's time to get down to the beach. Time to test themselves and each other as they get ready to brave the ice cold choppy tide of the Atlantic Ocean. Brotherly bonding is in full force as they make their way down the beach in the seriously strong mid-afternoon winds.
Brandishing their "stuff" for the camera, Nick and Dan assume their respective Heismann poses with the brand new football (our first "tourista" purchase). Dan nails a pass to Dad as Nick goes for the interception. (Not happening). Before you know it, Bec jumps in the game and we now officially have "sides". Mom shoots photos from the sidelines while fortuitously catching a pass between her knees. (That's right...my knees!) Rog struts his stuff on the beach. (Still golden after all these years).
As the game escalates into a bona fide "free for all", we all drop on the sand to catch our breath, and some of those rays we've all been waiting for. (After 99 inches of Wisconsin snow, we've been waiting a while!)
Lying next to one another on the beach, we finally enlist the lifeguard to take our family photo for posterity's sake. (With very little to actually "guard", he seems grateful for something to actually do). We all take turns flipping through the digital "album" of the day's adventures. The best souvenir of all.
"Home is where the heart is" sounds so cliche. Yet basking together on the sands of Virginia Beach miles and miles from Alabama, Chicago and Wisconsin with those who know you best and love you the most is a delight and treasure all its own.
Home again at last.
"How good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity". (Psalm 133:1)
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