Upon Children and Beaches :)
"Oh, that reminds me. I need to ask you about something big."

Ryan and I were sitting at Chevy's, our first venture out in an otherwise uneventful day. What gave me pause is that we'd been discussing children. I was debating out loud whether we could consider foster care once we had our own home. Local social services websites offer surprisingly limited information about what foster care options are available. I'm not sure we're ready to take in kids for long periods of time, but I've wanted to do emergency foster care ever since I read about a college student in New England who sheltered newborns until a more permanent placement could be arranged. Obviously there's a lot of issues we'd have to work out first - most notably, who is going to care for a child in the period where both Ryan and I are at work? It's something to consider, though.

I'd expected Ryan to be hesitant. Heck, I'm hesitant and I've been dreaming about this for years :P Not only did he listen to my ideas without saying anything negative, he suddenly had something to contribute. Talking about children reminded him that he had a major announcement to make. If he was a woman, I'd have immediately suspected he was pregnant...

As it turned out, he was thinking about his almost 4 year-old niece. Her parents - Ryan's brother and sister-in-law - are making a will and need to choose a guardian for their daughter if the unthinkable happens. They're considering either Ryan or his sister-in-law's sister. So, Ryan wanted to know if I would be okay with that.

Yes. Of course yes. Without hesitation yes.

And also - yikes.

But still yes, without hesitation.

So that's what we did today :P We lounged around, enjoyed peace and quiet, and then decided that if (God forbid) the need arose we would try our hand at being parents :P That's kind of crazy, really. :P

Also up for discussion: a beach house. Ryan's parents want to rent a beach house for a week this spring. I'm excited! :) It's definitely something to look forward to, especially when work gets stressful (and they stop paying me :P ) I have to admit some nervousness, though. This would be my first vacation with his whole family. Our trip to Prague with his mother was a resounding success, so surely we'll have fun at the beach house too?

It should be an adventure, if anything. Ryan hates beaches. He doesn't enjoy the sand, the sun, or the heat (although he admits that the ocean is "kind of cool.") I'm not sure about the rest of his family. He thinks his dad will be happy to crash anywhere with a book and his mother will be happy to relax on the beach with her granddaughter. His brother probably won't really want to go anywhere. His sister-in-law... we're not sure :P She might be interested in finding stuff to do with us, but she works 2 jobs these days so she might just want to relax :P

We're looking to the Outer Banks right now. Ryan insists there's nothing to do in that area that's easily accessible. That's what he thinks :P I can entertain myself no problem :P I'm looking forward to relaxing on the beach some days, playing with his niece, taking long walks, and eating great food. Also, I want to check out the Lost Colony stuff in Manteo and the Jockey's Ridge State Park. The northern towns in the Outer Banks seem to be only accessible by four wheel drive vehicles, but I'm still holding out hope that I can see the ancient maritime forest that's now an ocean and maybe even the wild horses.

Whatever happens, it's got to be better than the vacation my sister just had :P

Okay, too much daydreaming :P Now it's 3 a.m. :P Tomorrow I have to go to work and try to resolve this whole paycheck business... I should probably try to be awake for that :P