Before I had children, vacations for me generally meant lying on a tropical beach, baking in the sun (my twenty-year-old self was kinda honey badger about wrinkles – I really didn’t give a…), drinking strawberry daiquiris (my twenty-year-old self was also kinda honey badger about counting calories), and doing absolutely positively nothing. Nada. Not a damned thing.
Now as the mother of seven and nine-year-old boys I can still vaguely remember what that felt like. I think my brain keeps the details fuzzy on purpose.
Currently my vacations are anything but lazy, daiquiri drinking, sun filled times away from the office. Nowadays summer vacations are more than likely to involve visiting theme parks where my husband will be forced to win or we will both be forced to buy some sort of gaudy stuffed something or other, where we will dine on terrible overpriced amusement park food, and we will constantly be wondering how we are going to keep the children entertained and alive (you know, not wandering off with strangers or swept away by waves).
Relaxing is no longer on the vacation menu.
I know there are some families who have the flexibility, time, and resources to take both family vacations as well as vacations with just their spouse. As lovely as that sounds that just isn’t an option for me as my life doesn’t afford me the flexibility, time, nor the resources to take two distinct vacations. I can sneak away for a night or two throughout the year with my hubby. But even that twenty four hours is likely to be punctuated by phone calls from the boys or the sitters.
Having a family isn’t a part time gig. And you’re never really off. Once that first bouncing bundle of joy comes into your life restful vacations are a thing of the past. And truly I wouldn’t want it any other way. Because as wonderful as the utter relaxation of my pre-kid vacations were they don’t compare to the deep joy that comes with watching my sons learning to catch fireflies, or their excitement when they go tubing for the first time, or the thrill they feel when they catch their first fish. Being part of creating childhood memories for them is infinitely more wonderful than any day I spent on any beach. Ever.
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