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My little dachshund love, Missy, just loves attention. She is so accustomed to any time being lap time that she truly gets annoyed when I sit down with my computer or even my phone! She wants my undivided attention and isn’t afraid to let me know it. I guess dogs can be more intelligent when it comes to some things than many of us.

How many times do we listen to one of our loved ones or friends halfheartedly at best because our cell phone has our attention? I would like to say that I don’t fall into that category, but I’m afraid I also need to put my phone aside and focus on the person at hand.

Missy finally determined that I didn’t have time for her right now, and she found a comfy spot to rest until I do. Her little jaunt in the beautiful sunshine in the backyard must have lulled her into a sleepy mode because she is usually much more persistent about what she wants.

One of the things I have always loved to do this time of year is to plan vacation. Somehow it doesn’t seem to matter how elaborate or simple the trip is, a change of scenery is always welcome, and so the planning begins anew. This year I found a precious cottage at Bay St. Louis, Mississippi and can’t wait to enjoy the sun, sand, and delicious fresh seafood from the Gulf!

One year when the children were small I found an advertisement in Southern Living magazine for a place in Kentucky. We had never been there, and it looked great. We were into camping and had a travel trailer that we used a lot. I called and booked reservations at the campground and packed our things. My hubby, Glen R., came home from offshore just in time to take off again. The kids laughed excitedly, and we played all the silly travel games to make the hours go by. It was a two-day trip from Mississippi, and we were glad when we finally arrived at our destination.

There was only one problem. Somehow in my trip planning I failed to realize that we were camping at a yacht club. It was beautiful, but there wasn’t much to do other than boating. We may have been able to rent one, but that wasn’t in our budget or what we had in mind so we moved on. The folks graciously refunded our money, and we continued on our way hoping for better fortune.

We rambled along and stumbled onto Lake Barkley. It was beautiful, and we had a wonderful time there. We enjoyed it so much that we came back and stayed in the lodge the next summer. The Land Between the Lakes had lots of fun activities, and we made great memories. I hope my planning skills have improved since then, but we were flexible, and it turned out in the end!

Jan Penton Miller can be reached at lilsisjan@yahoo.com.