Haven’t written anything in a while.

I’ve been on vacation.

Since I’m retired and retirement is sort of like being on vacation ALL the time I guess you could say I took a vacation from my vacation. Now I’m back home and totally tuckered out from traveling, touring and drinking Margaritas. So I’m taking a vacation from my vacation from my vacation.

Something like that…

…although while I was on board that big beautiful cruise ship last month I couldn’t resist signing up for another cruise next year – a vacation from my vacation from my vacation from my…

Well, you get the gist.

Pretty soon I’ll be on vacation full-time.

Which, when you think about it, is what I am now, being retired and all.

This particular vacation started off at Stetson University in DeLand, FL. For the past 20 years or so I’ve attended the Florida Winter Pastors School at Stetson. God calls all Northern pastors to attend school in Florida in the wintertime. Go figure the love of God for His staff, huh?

People ask why I still attend school since I’m retired. Well, because I love learning and being inspired to think new thoughts. God – like life- is a hell of a lot bigger than we can possibly know and venturing off into God’s bigness is a soul-refreshing blast. Besides that, many of my fellow attendees are numbered among my dearest friends. We laugh. And tell jokes. And drink. And tell the same jokes. And laugh. And…

Did I ever tell you the one about Tootie Green?

Remind me to share that next time we chat.

From Stetson University it was on to Miami to meet our great friends Johnny and Janet Kincaid. Johnny has a huge job at a huge Fortune 100 Company and really NEEDED a break. Janet has a huge job managing Johnny. So wife Sandy and I met up with them for a Western Caribbean cruise aboard the Carnival Breeze.

I know. People my age are supposed to cruise on the more refined lines, not Carnival. Carnival is too youth-oriented, too party-pervasive, too fun-filled with Speedo-wearing guys and bikini-clad women.

Which is pretty much why we go Carnival.

And we loved the Breeze!

Jamaica. Grand Cayman. Cozumel where you can buy prescription drugs over the counter at a little store called Drugs & Deli. I ordered a ham and cheese with a side of oxycontin.

Yummy.

Cozumel served up some pretty great Margaritas, too!

After the cruise it was on to DisneyWorld to meet our son Pete and his family. You know, if Walt Disney had gone on TV and asked all the children to go take money out of their parents’ wallets and send it to him, he would’ve done jail time.

Instead, he invented DisneyWorld.

My vacation from my vacation finished up at Clearwater Beach with our friends Herb and Lorraine Freitag. Herb is the pastor at Chapel by the Sea (or “Chapel under the Sea” as I like to call it.)

We went to church there on the traditional once-a-year Sunday when Herb uses the sermon time to field questions from the congregation. It was fantastic, with all sorts of queries about heaven, hell, Muslims, the Bible, science, church music – you name it. These questions are written down and collected at the start of the service so there’s no time to prepare. But Herb is quick-witted (some people say “half-witted”) enough to respond thoughtfully and sometimes humorously. Like the time someone asked, “Will I see my dog in heaven?”

Herb instantly answered, “Only if you’re as good as your dog!”

Well, here I am back in Lexington, KY after a pretty fantastic vacation from my vacation. It was a really nice, relaxing, discovery-filled journey.

But do you know the best part?

For the better part of a month I didn’t have to listen to Donald Trump.

Now that’s what I call a vacation!