Sometimes the excitement of looking forward to a vacation exceeds what actually happened along the way. That didn’t happen to the seven McCoys, as we packed and prepared for our seven days at Marco Island in Florida.

It started out a little hectic, as we just made it to the airport in time. And getting the A section lineup on our boarding pass didn’t mean a thing, as we were the next to the last people getting on and were scattered all over the plane. A very thoughtful lady changed her seat, so Lamont and I could be together, but he didn’t get the window seat that he always demands when we go on trips alone.

We got to our rented house and wrangled about rooms – actually it was Jay and Margaret’s turn to have the larger bedroom with a sliding door to the pool – but as luck would have it, there were two bigger bedrooms opening to our very own pool. I remembered to put my swimsuit out to dry in the evening and hearing a storm coming up in the night. I opened the sliding doors and went to retrieve it. I didn’t realize it was only five steps into the pool. Thank goodness I only took four baby steps.

The rental had a charming reading nook, and it even had some pretty good books to read in the bookcase. Amber commandeered the center as she had to do college homework during the week.

We went to the Snook Inn for dinner one night. It was an outdoor eating place under a thatched roof. There was indoor eating as well, but we wanted to see the scenery. I purchased a Snook Inn faded denim cap to wear as the sun was burning the top of my head. I didn’t realize that I was wearing it with the tag still hanging down until Lamont mentioned and removed it. I told them I wanted to be like Minnie Pearl. Now does anybody know who that was?

Every place that we visit, we find an ice cream shop and visit it often. It was BeBe’s Ice Cream establishment this time. I counted 48 flavors in the freezers that show off all the tasty products. Wouldn’t you know, after all those luscious products to choose from that I got strawberry one night. I got adventurous another time and got red rasbperry truffle.

There were four bikes in the garage of the rental, along with the umbrella, beach towels, beach toys and chairs. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my days with skinned up knees and elbows, so I stayed away from the bikes. The youngsters would sometimes start off ahead of us to go to the beach or sight-seeing to see if they could get there before us by pedaling. It didn’t happen, though.

Jay was a wonderful son and at my request, he drove Lamont and me on a 300-mile round trip to Lakeland to see my very good friend who I hadn’t seen in four years. She was expecting my grandkids, so she could tell them lots of tales about my youth, but they preferred to sleep in and not come along.

I brought Richard McElroy’s book on Octa Foster, a teacher that every student for more than 30 years knew, whether they took Latin, German or journalism or not. She doesn’t really like to read actual books – the newspaper is her thing – but she finished the book in one day. She made us a delicious pineapple upside cake for dessert.

There was one night when it got exceedingly dark at 6 o’clock, the wind started bending palm trees almost in half, and the rain was hitting the windows as hard as hail. About that time, we started wondering if there were candles in the house. There was one candle and a candle lighter but it was equipped with six flashlights. We didn’t need them, though.

The plane trip back was better as we got to be seated together. But most of us went to sleep. We arrived back at the Columbus Airport at 8:30 p.m. and got back to Jay’s by 9:30 p.m. I was frazzled and couldn’t believe that the teens and one 22-year-old all went out to see friends. That’s youth for you.

I had a large bruise on the side of my leg, as the piece of luggage I was carrying kept bumping me. I panicked when I saw that luggage needed to be taken up on the escalator, as I was having trouble moving it along the ground. One member of our family relieved me of my burden and went up the escalator with three pieces of luggage.

Matthew took charge of my computer, and I kept asking him if he still had it. I know he was getting tired of hearing this. It is just that it meant more to me than my clothing. Just for that moment though. I wouldn’t like to be without a toothbrush and pajamas.

That is my story. Old folks, medium folks and young ones can get along for the week. We proved it.