
Vacation is usually something a person uses to refresh themselves from everyday life. A mother’s vacation is almost the opposite.
Being on vacation with your family is a time to build all kinds of wonderful memories. There’s the fun tourist stops, the dad jokes, the music you force your kids to listen, and interesting restaurants. Vacation also means: bickering kids, keeping track of a thousand trinkets, making sure everyone has enough underwear, and sheer exhaustion at the end of every day.
I adore my family. I live with dinosaurs that make me smile, and make me want to run away screaming into the night. Looking forward to vacation every year, I realize, I am not the one on vacation. I spend my time prepping the family. Starting by reminding a week out to gather some items you may want to play with in the car. Hey take a look to make sure what ever shirt you desperately will need to wear is clean and set aside.
That’s just the beginning. The shopping for snacks, the packing , and finally loading the family up and getting on the road. Just the beginning of the trip is enough to make you want to fly to Tahiti without the rest of them! You are the mom, I chant this in my head, so you will survive. I don’t know about your trips but ours are by car. They also happen to be about 10-16 hours in length. For a tiny T-Rex, this can be the end of the world. Fortunately, he lasts until about the last 2 hours before really giving me a problem.
Once we make it to our destination, I think phew vacation. Then I remember how silly I am. Once we’ve landed in our place, I become concierge, keeper of the tiny treasures, doctor, teacher, etc. I stop to look at every thing the kids want to look at. I can tell you right now the Lego store is not really worth spending two hours in when I made a good lap the first half hour.
The Idea….
As a mom, I got to thinking how unfair it is that we never get a vacation. We prep, we monitor, we unpack at home. We need a vacation from our vacation. I told my husband this and he laughed at me. I started thinking, someone should invent the mom amusement park. Only moms are allowed inside. You are assigned a person who will follow you around, refill your drink, carry your trinkets, and comfort you when you get over tired or upset.
We wouldn’t need rides. We would get tea and books. Coffee with our girlfriends on a non-food crusted couch. We could go shopping in stores WE wanted. No whining, crying, or tantrums when we would say, ” I’m going in to look at candles. ” I would personally wish for a lovely deep bath surrounded by a private garden full of lovely flowers. You know, things we never get in real life! A girl can dream.
The family….
My family does love a vacation. We go about once a year, and I do look forward to it. Then I look forward to being home in my own chaos! Do you have any fun mom escape ideas? I’d love to hear them.