Who’s the fun uncle? Me, of course.

Home is where the heart is.

That famous phrase rang true last week as I was able to spend time with my family in Florida over the Memorial Day weekend. To tell you the truth, my heart is divided. Half in Nashville, and half wherever my family is.

Another popular phrase that applies?

I need a vacation from my vacation.

Usually when I return to Nashville after these vacations I’m exhausted, sleepy, hungry, and in need of some good ol’ R&R. It’s ironic that the reason I left Nashville was for some good ol’ R&R! But when you’re the self-proclaimed favorite fun uncle, there’s not much time for rest. I have 7 nieces and a nephew and was so blessed to see all of them in Florida this particular trip. The activities revolved around beach-y, ocean-y things, which we all enjoy for the most part. Except when you get hurled off a tube traveling at 57 mph. How do I know the tube was traveling that fast? My smart brother-in-law (he’s an engineer, as you’d guess after I say the next part of this sentence) figured out the speed using formulas and graphs and trajectories and diagrams. He tried ambitiously to explain it to my sister and I but he lost us at “So this graph here…” If there were three things I wasn’t really ever good at, it was math.

These trips always seem to end way too soon. But there were long days under a warm sun, beautiful starry nights, lots of laughing, and good naps.And yes, I have pink toe nails. Price I gotta pay to keep on bein’ the fun uncle!

-Out of the Wilderness