Is Online Renting Like Online Dating?

Let me start by saying that I hope everyone reading today had a great Christmas. I know I did, but not for the conventional reasons you're probably thinking. I had a great Christmas because it was relaxing and I didn't have to fret about what to buy people. In turn, I was elated that I didn't have to force my excitement opening a reciprocal gift bought out of sheer obligation. Did manage to surprised with twins with a couple of nice things but I did it for exactly that... the surprise. 

Taking in the sites with the Pups!
Taken: December 27th, 2012

I'm not going to lie. I was worried about taking this amazing trip that I am absolutely enjoying. Probably because I knew I was burnt out and had been for quite sometime.

Upfront, I knew that bringing the dogs would present challenges and it has; also knew it was nothing we couldn't handle, which we have.

What I didn't expect, is that the pets would travel better than the twins, which they did!

From the time the trip was put on the table the dogs were in the mix. Hell, I decided to take the pups before I ever mentioned the travel option to the twins. I had hoped they'd want to come with but boarding the dogs was never an options. After all, they are a very big part of our family.

So many things run through your mind when planning a vacation and a pet-friendly vaycay is even more complicated. I never took into account what was needed for them to cross the border, nor the stress involved with renting a place sight unseen online. Suffice is to say when renting, you are forced to take a leap of faith, before you ever leave home. Then, with great angst, you hang all of your hopes on a couple of low resolution photos. Seriously, after scanning websites for hours at a time (for the perfect place to land), I can totally appreciate online dating and the faith it must involve.

Just for fun, on Boxing Day we ventured to the condo that I had cancelled. I was apprehensive in cancelling because I was very familiar with where it was located. We'd stayed in the area previously (a decade ago) and the photos looked amazing. As we turned off Ocean Blvd I could see the buildings. My heart sank until we pulled to the front of the property and there was a very crowded trailer park between the balconies and the beach. All I could do was sigh with relief.

Our Perfect Christmas Eve Sunset
Taken: December 24th, 2012

Searching for a house online is like agreeing to go on a blind date. I've only gone on one blind date, I was 20, and his name was Jeff. I remember Lori telling me that when he asked her boyfriend about me he offered three units of measure...

"Is she HOT?  Is she cute...? Or does she love her parents?!"

Our Beach House is Africa HOT. The cancelled condo? She definitely loves her parents. Matter a fact, she's is sooo butt ugly that she's still living at home and most certainly will never EVER get laid!!!

The Twins Are Twenty? How Can That Be? I'm Only Twenty-Nine!

Where does the time go? Honestly, this week I have stopped many times to wonder. 

I'm healthy, happy, active, and I don’t feel like a middle aged woman. Lord knows I don’t act like one either but all week I have been asking myself; “How did I get to the point in my life when part of it feels like it's already a blur?”

My youngest children, Staci and David celebrated their 20^th birthday this week. Twenty!

It's like it was yesterday the ultra-sound technician announced; “Oh my Mrs. Peacock, you are going to have a multiple birth” to which I immediately burst into tears.

I’d love to type that they were tears of joy but they were tears admitting “I’m not a strong enough woman to have three children in diapers.” Turns out I was.

Growing up, neither my husband nor I ever really had "birthday parties", so the celebration of birthdays in our family home was always an excuse for great fun. 

Jamie was born in February, so we’d rent the ice surface or the pool at the Centennial Centre, and later on head to the slopes for snowboarding.

Staci and David, as June babies, always had outdoor parties. Thirty kids at Williams Park with water balloons, Santa’s Village, even the cottage jammed full of kids (boys downstairs, girls upstairs) piled three high. With the twins, one party was always easier. One day, two births, one celebration. (Some years they hated each other at the time, which presented challenges, but for the most part they were a success.)

The 20^th birthday just celebrated is representative of change in many ways. For the first time in their lives they didn’t celebrate it together and for the first time ever we didn’t celebrate as a family. No cake, no balloons and I gave them the gift that just keeps giving, CASH!

Funny, when we left David in downtown Toronto last September, I remember he said to me “Mom you keep joking that you’re getting a one bedroom apartment with no pull out sofa... but you're going to miss us”. I laughed at the time but my boy's wise.

I’d give anything to be pushing my double stroller again, waving at the Glaziers as we passed. Two toddlers in the seats and Jamie standing on the back. Our dog Sammy's leash, strapped to the side, and a diaper bag over my back. We’d be heading to town.

Putting everything into perspective, I made Wonder Woman look like a wimp!

Perhaps that is why I have seen such success. To this day, I do what it takes, whatever it takes, to get it done and 'Get It Done' right!  David and Staci are both the same way, and I know they will see great success in life.

That’s not Mom talking, that the reality of whom they are as young adults.