"Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today"
In the spring of 2009 I left my 28 year job as a civil servant.
In celebration of shaking off the shackles of a job that by that point had become boring and mundane, and the end of a daily 4-5 hour commute into London I decided we needed a holiday. Not our usual car drive, ferry, chalet or caravan type family trip, but somewhere we'd never been before.
The kids suggested the States, that didn't really appeal to me.
Ian then suggested Greece. Specifically a Greek Island, Poros, which he'd been to twice, years before, and was one of his favourite places and would love to go back to. But he explained though stunningly beautiful, it was a quiet, relaxed and chilled Island, not a clubbing, touristy type one.
Ah, right, so maybe not the best place to go with 8 (yes, eight, the kids took a friend each) Teens and young adults. I thought they might need more excitement, a place with a bit more of a buzz. Two weeks on an island with only one nightclub could get very boring, very quickly.
I even suggested it sounded like the perfect place for us to go when he retired, just the two of us, without the children. Maybe we should save it as a retirement holiday for him?
You would not believe how happy I am that the children and I decided we'd 'trust' Ians choice (after MUCH googling of course!).
They were happy to be chilled for two weeks and bask in some sunshine and Greek beauty.
We stayed in a beautiful villa overlooking the quay.
Late mornings with breakfast on the terrace. Slow walks & bus rides to beaches for lunch.
Long, long lazy evening meals that started at 8pm and continued till 12pm. Lots of walking, reading, eating and drinking. And yes, the kids did go the the one and only club, all of two times. But they seemed perfectly happy to while away the majority of their evenings spending time with us, wandering round the sea front, stopping for a drink or playing cards on the terrace (the villa had no TV), laughing, talking and watching the coming and goings of the quay, while going through sensible copious amounts of local beer and local brandy.
It was a very special time, for all of us.
I'm so pleased Ian convinced me we should go there as a family and not wait for his retirement, so, so relieved...
...because we really never know what tomorrow will bring, do we?
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