Why i love sandals! (the resort, not the shoes)

Do you have a something that cheers you up when you are down?  A favorite movie, an activity, or even a food that can lift your spirits no matter what lemon curveballs life may be raining down on you?  When I need a little extra pep, I turn to the Sandals' website (sandals.com).  It may seem odd, but I love snooping through the sales and stacking discounts to try to get the best rates or perusing the sample menus and fantasizing about ordering French onion soup, surf and turf, sashimi, and the decadent chocolate mousse bites (excuse me as I clean the drool off of my keyboard).
My husband just doesn't get why I would enjoy such a silly thing.  Well, I love saving money, traveling, food, and, of course, what most every mom craves despite the nagging guilt, the peace, quiet, and time to myself.  Ahh to finish a meal out without having to play "Baby Shark" for the billionth time, constantly retrieve crayons from the floor, and actually be able to use both hands to eat!
I know this predicament is of my own creation, because ladies and gentlemen, my name is Rayna and I am an overprotective mom.  I now have a four year old and a six month old and I do not let anyone, except family, babysit.  I know that this means that I am outrageously lucky to have such a supportive family that I have been able to work in various capacities and earn two Master's of Arts in education in the last four years.  I am so grateful that my mother, father, and grandmother(the eighty year old trooper who runs on coffee and getting her 10,000 steps a day in and handles the majority of the baby watching duties) have the time and resources to assist me that I feel beyond guilty asking for assistance if I am not specifically out working or at an appointment.  They already do so much for me that I don't feel that I can ask them to watch the kids so I can go have fun. 
In typical we-can-have-it-all style, I also hate to miss anything.  I want to make sure my girls remember that I was always there for them.  Do you remember anything from preschool and before?  Me either, but I hate to chance it.  This means I can count on one hand the times hubby and I have been able to go out and half of those were on visits out to see his parents (thank you!).
All this means, when I think of Sandals, the adults only, couples resort, where "Love is All You Need," for some reason, I feel a little less guilty because the kids aren't allowed to come.  It also makes me feel better when other couples we meet tell us that they wish they would have taken the time to make special trips together much earlier.  I can derive years of joy from planning and replanning these trips, and sometimes, like with recent events of the pandemic and the birth of my youngest, I have had to!
I tell my husband, I love to dream of seven dinners in a row that I get to take my time and finish in peace.  I envision the books that I am going to read on the beach (maybe Harry Potter, Down the Rabbit Hole, or Dragon Riders of Pern).  I get to imagine the fully-made-up selfies, I can take, because who has time for that from day to day.  And the biggest prize of all... drumroll, please...sleeping through the night!!!  Come on, when is the last time you got to sleep through the night? Yea, I don't know either, but it's thrilling to dream about.
Today, we would have been headed to our fourth trip, but I have been assured that paradise will be waiting for me when the time comes (Do you hear that, Elsa?  You leave my islands alone!). Until next time, Sandals!  Tonight, I dream of the now open lobster season and having a mouthwatering beef patty on the beach.

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