Tomorrow we go to the lake for a week with the whole family and Annika is so excited she can not sleep or stop talking to me. She is snuggled up next to me and every few minutes she says something like “I have a question…” or “I’m so excited.” Her questions are things like “what is one thing you would never forget to pack?” “What is something you would forget?” “What are you most excited about at the lake?” The goal of these questions is more to tell me her answers, which is kind of sweet but not necessarily at night when I’m trying to wind down, read a little, and do my writing.

Truth is, I’m not especially excited. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to be at the lake and I love that my kids are both excited to go, but it takes a lot of work to get ready and since we do the same thing every year, I’d kind of like to just go on a different vacation sometimes – maybe a different lake or a different part of the state. But it’s a tradition that my kids love and so I want to be there for that.

I remember not being able to sleep with excitement when I was her age. I remember laying in my mom’s bed one time specifically; I was so excited to go to Valleyfair with my cousins the next day that I couldn’t relax. It’s a great/terrible feeling. I know what Annika feels like. So I’m going to cut this off now and try to get her to snuggle down and relax.

Tomorrow, it begins.