A South Carolina Surprise!

So...it's been a minute since my last blog, but I've got a lot to catch you guys up on.  I'm just coming off one of the best weeks of my life and it had nothing to do with my career & EVERYTHING to do with my family.  A few weeks ago my mom had this great idea to somehow get our entire crew together for a surprise family vacation (this hasn't happened since Disney World 1997...during the start of El Nino).  My pops is about to turn 50 & she really wanted to surprise him...so she hounded us relentlessly until she made it happen.  I would've blogged from the cabin (it was literally in the middle of NOWHERE & looked like it came straight out of a horror movie...which I not so secretly loved), but the place had NO CABLE & NO INTERNET!!!  I mean seriously?!?  I love roughing it as much as the next guy, but a family vacay with no contact from the outside world during week 1 of the Olympics...I really had to put on my big boy pants & remind myself how much this trip meant to my mom (I really just wanted to whine like a baby).  My big sis Chris & my niece Brooke picked me up at the airport in Columbia, SC (I somehow convinced her a 10 hour drive through the mountains at 1am would be fun) & we got to the cabin around 2:30AM.  We were so sure we would meet certain death on the drive through the woods that we were just giddy by the time we got to the "cabin in the woods."  Mom text me & told me to call her when we arrived so she could act surprised, because the rest of my sibs wouldn't be arriving 'til the next day & she wanted my pops to think my sis & I were acting solo.  I'm pretty sure my mom could've been an actress because her shocked face at the door deserved nothing short of an Oscar!  It was hard not to laugh, but I'm pretty sure her tears were real (she really missed me), so it was easy for me to stay in character.  In the first 24 hours, my sister Chris & I learned that we're not only bad liars...we're downright TERRIBLE!  We slipped up sooo many times & although my dad acted surprised when everyone else showed up the next day...I'm still convinced he knew all along.  We spent the week on the jet skis, swimming, tubing, knee boarding, attempting to wakeboard (our jet skis couldn't seem to get my 6'5 ass up).  We cooked family dinners, played "Chubby Bunny" by the bonfire (don't ask) & DRANK!  No one in my family is really a big drinker anymore (although my mom does love a lil Reggae Red "wine"...again, don't ask), but every now & then when we all get together lightning strikes & we morph into the wildest bunch of crazies you could imagine.  I thought one celebratory shot of Jack Daniels seemed appropriate, but that 1 shot quickly turned into 5 & things rapidly deteriorated from there.  We went from zero to hero in about 2.2 seconds & the night quickly reached legendary status...on par with the great Rock Band fiasco of Christmas 2009 & the Lake Festival sisterhood car trunk ride of 2011!  I can't divulge ALL of our family secrets, but I will say that the evening (we were actually up til about 5am) involved a deer, a crocodile, a Yeti, a raft, pilgrims & a nervous mother yelling from a balcony (I found my underwear on the dock the next morning...not weird at all).  And although our shenanigans the rest of the week never again quite lived up to the antics of that first night together (mostly because we were all hung over for a solid 2 days), every minute with my family was priceless & something I needed VERY much.  I love LA & I understand that I need to be here right now, but last week reminded me of the simpler things in life...the more important things in life.  I didn't miss the Olympics once (congrats Gaby Douglass...btw) & I can't think of the last time I smiled so much in such a short period of time.  I really am just a simple country boy at heart & I needed that reminder.  LYBMF (if you know what that means...you're important to me).  ;-)

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