Life's A Beach, And Then You Blog

Or don't blog, as the case may be.

A couple months ago, Husband came home looking very forlorn. He said, dramatically "Well, I just lost my job."

After I regained consciousness, he explained that the company that owns the small but lucrative dot com, for which he slaves his life away works, decided to simply walk away from the company and write off the loss. It had been up for sale for several years, but they had been unable to garner much interest. The few offers they had were ridiculously lowball.

We were in a weird sort of limbo during that time, never really knowing what was going to happen, but not terribly concerned. We had already been through one sale, and it wasn't too traumatic.

But this....this was catastrophe. I don't work, so no other income to fall back on. We have some savings, but it is supposed to be for retirement and the boys' college. I started having flash forwards to my adult children working as fry cooks because we had squandered their college tuition, and myself and husband surviving on dog food and soda crackers in our old age.

This was, of course, exactly the reaction Husband was hoping for. What an asshole jokester.

As it turns out, the man who originally started the company (and then sold it for a buttload of money) decided to acquire the assets and take the helm once again. There would be little disruption in the regular flow of things, except that we would be without healthcare for a month while he researched various options, and we would have to rollover Husband's 401k into an IRA.

So, Husband had lost his job, but he hadn't lost his job.

After I cleaned up the blood and fixed him an ice pack, I listened calmly as he relayed the details.

The parent company was required to pay each employee a severance. Apparently, this is stipulated by law in this type of situation.

Since Husband has been working for this company for 8 years, we got a very nice little sum. Basically, he was handed a wad of cash, given a hearty handshake, and that was that. Life went on.

This windfall of ours was terribly tempting. There are SO many things that we could have spent it on without even breaking a sweat. But in the end, we decided to be responsible and put it into a relatively safe investement vehicle with a modest but satisfactory yield and let it accrue some interest for our retirement, which, we are realizing, is not so far away as it once seemed.

We are however, using some of it to treat ourselves to one hell of a vacation; the likes of which we will not likely be able to afford for many years to come.

For 8 days and 7 nights, we will be staying at an incredible island resort with every amenity you could ever think of, where we have rented a two bedroom villa that opens directly onto a private (to the resort) and pristine white sand beach. We are going to fish and crab and explore. We are going to sail the open seas on a "genuine" pirate ship. We are going to laze about on the beach. We are going to visit our favorite French restaurant, where we will drink good wine and listen to live jazz music.

Above all, we will relaxe. We will forget about traffic, smog, neighbors, HOAs, work and bills.

Which brings me (the long, circuitous route) to the point of this post.

During our vacation, I am going to be completely unplugged. The villa offers wireless internet, but I am not going to succumb to its allure. I am not even going to bring my laptop along.

It's not just a gift to my family, but a gift to myself as well.

See you on the flip side, with a smile and a tan.