We planned our trip to St. Pete’s Beach in Florida a solid six months in advance. Five different women in four cities across three states – there was PTO to request, children’s schedules to coordinate, births to plan around – in short, it took a lot for me and four of my best friends from high school to get our butt cheeks to Florida for a four-day trip.

Our friend Maggie has lived in St. Pete’s for years, but between Covid, three new babies, one divorce, job changes and lots and lots of life, it just never seemed to be the right time to visit. Until now! We left behind our families and responsibilities and cooling fall temperatures and descended upon Eastern Florida ready to PARTY. Which, for a bunch of tired ass mid-thirties mothers meant drinking lots of wine, going to restaurants at a reasonable time and sleeping 10 hours a night.

As far as rebellious goes, we were always pretty tame, even in high school. The closest we ever got to being in trouble was when we TP’d houses. Sure we snuck flavored vodkas into parties, raced around the Walmart parking lot in our undies, and, once, peed on the lawn of the high school, but we were decently good kids. So it’s no surprise that our time in Florida was chill. A few silly things happened, mostly involving lots of wine and a few recreational drugs, but nothing we’ll remember very long.

What we will remember are the long talks we had every day. On the beach, on the porch, around the table. Worries, secrets, and dreams, long carried around in silence, were brought out into the warm Florida sun and inspected by a group of trusted friends before being handed back to their owners for safekeeping. That’s the beauty of friendship that goes on and on for decades, there’s no trying to impress anyone – they already know every bad thing you’ve done and they still like you.

Maggie made us a cheeseboard every day, which I never realized is actually the most perfect vacation food ever created.

We spent a morning at the Dali museum, which totally blew my mind. The self-guided audio tour takes you on a deep dive into each painting, the incredible details baked into each one, along with their backstories. I only made it halfway through the museum and could have spent another two hours peering into each frame. I’d love to go back and spend a whole day there.

We spent leisurely meals at Maggie’s favorite restaurants. Taking visitors to your favorite restaurants is an exercise in vulnerability – it’s like having them meet your friends. Will they hit it off? Fortunately, everything we ate was delicious. From fresh mofongo to beach sandwiches to whiskey/root beer combos, I was happy.

Before I left home I nabbed one of Charlie’s kinderegg cars and took pictures of it along my trip. I made a shared google photos album for shawn to show him. Note to self: 5-year olds do not care how much effort you put into taking creatively staged photos, and you explaining how cool it actually is definitely does not make them think it’s cool.

Also, we saw DOLPHINS, but my wordpress subscription doesn’t allow me to upload videos, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

Like all good vacations, our time together ended too quickly. We boarded our flights back to our lives, with slight headaches and promises for another visit soon. I wonder what beach we’ll find ourselves on in 20 years’ time. Will we all still be here? Will we be friends? What will our lives look like? Will I ever be able to get through a Dali museum expedition while stoned? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.