Vacation Blues

Vacation is hard. For those of you who have not vacationed in awhile, your first thought may be “cry me a river,” but I’m telling you that it’s not easy going on vacation. I’m speaking strictly of an actual vacation so let me differentiate to avoid confusion. A vacation is when you leave your home, do not practice any of your normal tasks (i.e. laundry, cooking, etc.) and it is preferred if it is without anyone under 21. You probably feel even less sorry for me with the last statement. However, I will say it again…vacation is hard. I will split it into three categories to properly illustrate what I mean.

Pre-vacation
Pre-vacation is comprised of at least a solid week of active brain waves. Thinking about what the adult should pack (especially if you are going somewhere that there may be several climate changes and/or limited suitcase due to extreme costs related with lugging a suitcase on a plane). For those of whom that need a lot of accessories, shoes and clothes in order to look as beautiful as they can, this is quite a doozy. Not to mention the primping – nails, hair, etc. in order to properly prepare for a true vaca.

Then there is the separation from the children. An extremely involved plan of who needs to go where and when. Once that schedule is layed out, it is usually necessary to rally the troops. The term, “it takes a village” has never seemed more fitting then when three children have ten million activities in ten different directions. Writing down on paper proved how very crazy my life really is and trying to relay that to everyone involved in helping is quite a process. Soccer bags/uniforms, ballet bags/leotards, baseball bags/uniforms, snacks arranged, lunches made…oh my!!!!

Don’t forget the necessary actions to take around the house. Make sure everything is cleared out of the refrigerator, pets are tended to (which sadly often gets over-looked until right before – doh!), toys are cleaned up so your aren’t welcomed to a mess upon your exhausted arrival and all laundry is done ahead of time so you aren’t adding to your load (not to mention the mess you’re caregivers would have to deal with if perhaps a jersey wasn’t cleaned upon your exit).

Vacation
One may think this is the time to kick back and relax…especially if this event is kid-free (yippee!!!). However, it is necessary to stay on top of the schedule (at least from a high level perspective). Tell me what would happen if Grandma forgot it was black/white day in your absence and your daughter went to school in all pink?!?! CHAOS!!!!!!!!!!

Return from Vacation
Surprisingly I think this time around the relaxation obtained upon the kid-free vacation was enough to sustain me through the hardships of the return. This is often the hardest part of the vacation. LAUNDRY, LAUNDRY AND LAUNDRY. I was even blessed enough to have my wonderful mother do the majority of the kids’ stuff and I still had an entire day devoted to laundry. Then ERRANDS, ERRANDS, ERRANDS. $5 million dollars and 20 trips to different grocery stores, I think we finally have a full fridge and everything we need in place.

The whole process, beginning to end, may have taken a month…all for our week of vacation. And despite a week of predominantly rain in the most “safe bet” nice weather geography, I am so glad and grateful for a week alone with my husband of ten years. Special thanks to the village that helped 🙂