“I just want to live on vacation!”
In between breakfast, having to find her shoes, pack her snack, get her backpack ready to go, and the normal hustle and bustle of a school morning, my seven-year-old stopped, looked me dead in the face, and said those words.
My immediate response was “ME TOO!” and then we hurried out the door to the bus for school.
Now sitting down to think, I am seeing what she means. Our family recently spent our Spring Break week in Charleston, South Carolina. It was a magical week with no agenda. We didn’t have sports practice or work meetings to attend. We were able to fully unplug and spend the entire week together without distractions, and it was simply the best.
There’s just something about vacation life that feels so sweet. The pace slows, everyone softens a bit, and suddenly the days feel wide open rather than tightly scheduled. No one is asking where their practice jersey is, and I am not harping on whether or not homework has been done yet. Our biggest decision was whether to go to the beach or the pool first each day.
Our days fell into the easiest rhythm. Waking up when we felt like it, grabbing something simple to eat, and heading outside. The kids spent hours swimming, and I finished a whole book! There was no rushing them and no cutting it short to get somewhere else.
Swim, snack, repeat.
Somehow, a plate of crackers, fruit, and whatever else we threw at them equaled a meal, and everyone ate without complaint.
And then there were our people. We had the privilege to spend the week with my friend of over 40 years and her family. That added another level of joy to our already wonderful time away from home.
Between our daily bike rides along the coast and the very serious job of hunting shark teeth, we were busy while having absolutely nothing to do. We were all present with each other, and the distractions of “real life” were out of sight and out of mind.
Of course, real life doesn’t work like that.
We arrived back home, and our full schedules snapped us out of the fantasy vacation fog. The early-morning alarms and meetings, dance classes and sports practices, welcomed us back home with open arms. I realized then that I had missed some semblance of routine and craved the workouts I had skipped during our week away. As much as I’d love to live in that vacation bubble forever, I know it wouldn’t feel as special if it were our everyday.
But I do think there’s something to take from it.
Maybe it’s letting the kids stay in the pool a little longer on a random Tuesday night. Maybe it’s saying yes to a spontaneous bike ride instead of sticking strictly to the plan. Maybe it’s throwing together an easy “picky dinner” and calling it good enough. With summer fast approaching, my parenting style gets a bit more lax, so I will gladly take cues from our vacation life and let the days unfold as we wish.
While we can’t live on vacation, we can hold on to the parts that made it feel so good: the slower pace, the extra laughter, and the quality time spent together.
And at the very least, I’ll be right there with my seven-year-old, dreaming about the next time we get to do it all over again.
