I love my children. Their smiles, infectious laughter, and their constant need for “Mama” to be near. That is why I needed a vacation from them.

Mothers all over know what I am saying, it is a double entendre- you can love your children to death, therefore you need to get away once in a blue moon, to be sure that you don’t.  I escaped to a world of Lavender Loveliness thanks to my husband’s reassurance that the boys would be “just fine” without me for the day, that he would indeed “feed them”. I don’t give him enough credit. It is because I am the caregiver from morning till around 6 pm when Andru can take a break from staring at that glaring rectangular box we rely on for our livelihood.

I know he can handle two active boys for a whole day but it took me about 20 minutes to finally cut the strings and realize that this was the opportunity for a “vacation” that I was so desperately hinting to just two days before. Still I reluctantly jumped on the chance to go to the Lavender Festival in Sequim with my sister and her husband.

I had mentioned the Festival to Andru a few weeks prior but it was quickly analyzed by his computing mind and filed into the “not something I want to do category” as he did not remember me wanting to glory in all the lavender scent and color. So God, being the wonderful friend He is, knowing this is something I wanted to do, provided a way for it to happen. My sis and her husband had planned on going Saturday but changed their minds and I quickly talked them into going Sunday. They were to drive so I could just lay back and not have to worry about falling asleep at the wheel (which I have done, just once though—at a red light, mind you ;>).

My brother-in-law drove to Sequim while I relaxed and chatted with my sis about non-sensical things. The children were a thought in my mind, but I had made up my mind to trust Andru’s reassurances and feel good about the fact that I had a great husband who encourages me all the time to break out of my shell and do things for myself and my well-being. I never had someone encourage me as much as he does. I’m a lucky gal.

After a long wait for the ferry, and a 40 minute drive, we arrived at the Purple Haze Farm. Mmmm…lavender in the air mixed with smells of grilled chicken and salmon. I was hungry enough to chew on some lavender. After a yummy lunch of grilled chicken breast infused with lavender, crisp greens with their specialty dressing, with of course, lavender a most important ingredient, a slice of fresh bread and sweet, sweet corn, tasting suspiciously like lavender—(lavender butter?), washed down with a lavender margarita, for my sis, a lavender gin and tonic for her hubby and a lavender and honey lemonade, nix the alcohol for moi, we headed over to the farmhouse store to check out all the wonderful lavender products. I maintained my composure and restricted myself to buying just the yummy salad dressing.

They offered a “U-Pick” your own lavender stand where you could pick as much lavender as you can wrap a 4-5 inch twist tie around for $5, a bargain at best. I took on the challenge and it took me maybe an hour to do- in the blazing sun clipping one stem of lavender at a time while wiping the sweat off my brow every few seconds—(where was Mickey?). My sis promised that she would not pick me up if I fell face first into the lavender from heat exhaustion—ah, sisterly love.

I did it though, I was the proud owner of a huge bouquet of lavender that I put my blood, sweat, and tears into cutting. OK maybe it wasn’t all that dramatic. After all, my sis and husband stood in line for me to get a scoopful of lavender mint ice cream to stave off the heat. Lavender is oh so good in all things!!

We walked around a bit afterwards and took in the whole farm at Purple Haze and I was once again glad for the reprieve from my beautiful children. I needed this. A day to just do nothing yet do something I want. And to talk to grown-ups even if our conversations were corny as all get-out. We knew we did not have the time nor energy to visit all 8 farms, who could? So we decided to try out one more on the way out of Sequim. We recharged at a local coffee house and drove to the next destination. Sunshine Lavender Farm. It was 5pm already and all the farms were shutting down at 6 so we made it a quick jaunt.

We smelled BBQ in the air and had to investigate. Mmmm…RIBS and watermelon. They turned out to be pork ribs, and I being one to partake in only kosher meats, chalked it up to not needing all that fatty food anyway. My sis and husband though, got a real treat, it was almost closing time so they got an extra helping of ribs for free. Nice BBQ man. While they stuffed their faces and shot watermelon seeds out of their puckered mouths, I perused the shop and snapped some photos for you all to enjoy.

That was the last stop in our day of Lavender. It was fun, and we were beat. My sis drove on to the never-ending ferry line and I sat back, satisfied that I did not call my husband once to check on him or the boys (although he called me 3 times…it’s nice to be needed). We all agreed we should do it again next year, with a little better planning and maybe this time my husband will want to partake in making a halo of lavender with ribbons, hehe…oh, he missed out this year!!

I came home to my children, Alijah and Tommy, refreshed and ready to be a better Mom, knowing that I would not trade all the Lavender Loveliness in the world for the two of them.