One Last Trip

This photograph holds a special place in my heart because I will always remember the Fairmont in Monte Carlo as my family's last vacation together. At the time we kind of knew it would be the last time we would ever take a trip just the five of us, and we were right. This was my last semester in college and I knew I would be moving to live abroad shortly after. My sister ended up getting getting engaged after this trip and is now happily married. My brother is graduating college this year and is looking for a job out of state, which will make it harder to bring our family together. We will never all live in the same house again; we have all grown up and moved on in our lives. Hopefully we will travel again someday with our spouses, and maybe even our children we might have in the future. I remember going to the rooftop pool the day this photo was taken and looking over the balcony at the world of possibilities. I wasn't sure if I was quite ready to enter the world on my own, but for that moment I felt safe with my mom, dad, brother and sister nearby. We don't live in same state or country anymore, and the Fairmont in Monte Carlo was the last we were really together, just the five of us. I will hold this memory dear to me for the rest of my life.