Spontaneity is my favorite. Although I’m a Type-A 99.9% of the time, last minute adventures are my heartbeat.
Dave and I had planned to be in Springfield, Missouri this past Saturday for the second month of City Sessions: Springfield – a collaboration with our own Bentonville Sessions and benefitting our work in Congo. A couple days prior, we decided to change our plans from an evening out for just Dave and I, into a family getaway {including my parents who are still in town}. I found a crazy deal online for the “Winter Special” at a hotel with an indoor waterpark so we went for it.
We had the best, most hilarious time. The hotel was crowded and a little dated but the kids absolutely loved it. We got our money’s worth at the indoor waterpark, arcade, bumper cars, mini-golf, Amazing Pets live show, and pizza parlor. The weather was INCREDIBLE – Saturday was 84 degrees. In February. We sat in the sun while eating our picnic lunches and pretended it was summer. Perfection.
Things started to go south when we realized Charlotte’s cough was getting worse and my dad’s stomachache was turning into a full-blown stomach-virus-flu-thing. Dave and I ended up canceling our drive over to Springfield and decided to lay low Saturday evening at the hotel. We hated to miss the event – we wanted to support our friends and it was the reason we drove two hours and stayed in this hotel in the first place – but we knew my mom wouldn’t be able to handle four kiddos (one of which wasn’t feeling well) by herself in a hotel room for long.
And, that’s when we received the most unexpected surprise: the night wasn’t ruined at all. In fact, it was pretty awesome. We ordered pizza in, the big kids played in the arcade, Charlotte had moments of feeling crummy and moments of running around laughing. Dave and I looked at one another at one point and just smiled, knowing this was exactly what we had needed. We needed to step away from life and the endless demands on our time and just be with our people.
Sometimes the very best moments are the ones we don’t plan for at all, aren’t they?