Life begins whenever you choose to let it. Finding love, in your 40’s and bringing together kids from each side is an adventure. This summer we gathered the bulk of our kids, mom & pets out the door for St. Simons Island, GA. Who knew that Prince’s “Purple Rain“, a night of karaoke and huge amounts of pizza would make for a great trip (ok, how could it go poorly after you read Prince)?

We started out with the usual beach affairs, pier walks, wave jumping, jelly fish attacks and of course body surfing. The “boys” all went fishing, thankfully our meal was not dependent upon the 3 finger sized fish, 2 stingrays and variety of sea trash. The ladies took in a day of shopping, site seeing and pretty sure some excellent food and ice cream.

Then the real vacation began…

Sitting around after dinner and deciding “what to do” the suggestion of karaoke, somewhat in jest, was said out loud. One app download later and the familiar strum of Purple Rain and the rest was history! The best evening was everyone, joining in and singing duets, Christmas songs (we all know “All I Want for Christmas” by Mariah is the best Christmas song ever) and a few oldies (the duet by Dylan and Corban is one for the ages).

Everyone had fun as a collective group! Finding the “off the path” Sharktooth Island, all the swimming, ice cream and food was great, but nothing compares to a night of karaoke.

Blending has challenges, but the rewards and memories are worth it. We are finding that making memories is part of the recipe.