See the blessings not the rain
Coming back to the "real world" at the end of vacation is always dreaded. But this year is different.
This year we left desperately seeking relaxation and peace from the stress of 5 lives running a thousand directions, with the thoughts of a possible world crisis in the far off "it surely won't happen" compartment of our minds.
The majority of the worries we had were "Do we have enough underwear to pack for 12 days for five people, two of whom wear the same size?", "Hopefully the dog won't destroy the house, right?" and "Will Mama have the willpower to stick to the diet that helps her feel better?"
We also fielded questions from well meaning people who wondered why we were taking our kids out of school for almost two weeks, several weeks before the district's arbitrarily decided on date for spring break. "How will they catch up?" "What if they miss something?"
While I'm a rule follower who used to worry about missed days, more and more I've come to see that life is what happens when you let it. Some opportunities must be taken or they won't happen again. Our kids can spend their days in a classroom or get to see where their grandparents live the three - six cold months of the year, when they aren't in Wyoming. We had planned this to be the only days they missed this year, not expecting X to get struck down by Influenza B in January.
The truth of the matter is the kids probably learned more on our trip than they would have otherwise. We had quality family and friend time. We visited/drove through seven states. They laughed, played, swam, and just enjoyed being 9, 6, and 4. We had no set plans or bed times.
Our trip ended up changing several times, based on schedules and weather.
The kids experienced things they never expected, like outdoor night swimming in March.
We played putt putt golf in the chilly wind of Arizona.
The weather wasn't perfect while we were in California, but it was still vacation. We could see the ocean, smell the salt, play in the sand, collect shells.
The girls squealed, screamed, ran around and turned every piece of furniture in our small condo and their grandparent's miniature cottage into forts. X and Grandma played round after round of dominos.
The day the sun came out, we took a boat ride and saw stampedes of common and bottlenose dolphins and 2 California gray whales.
A few days before the end, the news of Covid-19 became more and more real. While scary no matter where you are, it is even more unnerving and ominous while traveling. What are we coming back to? Will we will able to restock the pantry left bare because we weren't there?
Most of our plans during our stays had already been made to avoid crowds because we just wanted to enjoy an open schedule with an ocean view.
But many blessings came from the chaos.
*Starting each travel day with a prayer. And having Lex say sweet prayers throughout our trip for new friends.
*Getting to surprise grandparents by showing up a day early.
*Our planned visit to the Thursday markets that were canceled for the rest of the month ended with us having cash in our pockets, something we usually don't have. (And Brandon's extra job that provided the funds to take our vacation in the first place without stressing about finances.)
*Schools canceling before we had to make the tough decision whether to self-quarantine because we had been out of state.
*No school for 3 weeks meaning no rush to replace the school glasses that were accidentally lost somewhere between the whale watching tour and the beach.
*Having our internet short out before we left, not during the trip, so our house didn't burn down.
*Having one employer who truly cares about people, by providing mandatory quarantine leave (and closing doors to the public) that will provide an opportunity not only for more family bonding but the ability to keep myself and my compromised immune system a bit safer.
*A husband who loves Black Friday shopping and isn't afraid to tackle that chaos while I put our house back in order, with no rush.
This is not the post I expected to write when we returned. I've been drafting posts about the packing strategies we borrowed and tweaked from family and friends that worked well (and I still might). But another blessing is we made it home safe and, God willing, sometime in the next 14 days I might decide to write that post too.
We also fielded questions from well meaning people who wondered why we were taking our kids out of school for almost two weeks, several weeks before the district's arbitrarily decided on date for spring break. "How will they catch up?" "What if they miss something?"
While I'm a rule follower who used to worry about missed days, more and more I've come to see that life is what happens when you let it. Some opportunities must be taken or they won't happen again. Our kids can spend their days in a classroom or get to see where their grandparents live the three - six cold months of the year, when they aren't in Wyoming. We had planned this to be the only days they missed this year, not expecting X to get struck down by Influenza B in January.
The kids experienced things they never expected, like outdoor night swimming in March.
We played putt putt golf in the chilly wind of Arizona.
The weather wasn't perfect while we were in California, but it was still vacation. We could see the ocean, smell the salt, play in the sand, collect shells.
The day the sun came out, we took a boat ride and saw stampedes of common and bottlenose dolphins and 2 California gray whales.
A few days before the end, the news of Covid-19 became more and more real. While scary no matter where you are, it is even more unnerving and ominous while traveling. What are we coming back to? Will we will able to restock the pantry left bare because we weren't there?
Most of our plans during our stays had already been made to avoid crowds because we just wanted to enjoy an open schedule with an ocean view.
*Starting each travel day with a prayer. And having Lex say sweet prayers throughout our trip for new friends.
*Getting to surprise grandparents by showing up a day early.
*Our planned visit to the Thursday markets that were canceled for the rest of the month ended with us having cash in our pockets, something we usually don't have. (And Brandon's extra job that provided the funds to take our vacation in the first place without stressing about finances.)
*Schools canceling before we had to make the tough decision whether to self-quarantine because we had been out of state.
*No school for 3 weeks meaning no rush to replace the school glasses that were accidentally lost somewhere between the whale watching tour and the beach.
*Having our internet short out before we left, not during the trip, so our house didn't burn down.
*Having one employer who truly cares about people, by providing mandatory quarantine leave (and closing doors to the public) that will provide an opportunity not only for more family bonding but the ability to keep myself and my compromised immune system a bit safer.
*A husband who loves Black Friday shopping and isn't afraid to tackle that chaos while I put our house back in order, with no rush.
This is not the post I expected to write when we returned. I've been drafting posts about the packing strategies we borrowed and tweaked from family and friends that worked well (and I still might). But another blessing is we made it home safe and, God willing, sometime in the next 14 days I might decide to write that post too.
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