My family and I spent the last 10 days of 2011 along the Gulf Coast of Alabama with my mom and dad. We had a “white Christmas” on the beach, we played cards and other games, we worshiped together, we laughed, we played our new Wii, we played on the beach, we visited a Naval air museum, we played mini-golf, etc. You get the idea – we had a whole lot of family time with no schedule constraints or commitments. Even after we came home we had a couple of days of just hanging out and being together.
And then Daddy went back to work. And then the kids went back to school and I came back to work. And we are once again trying to balance life amidst schedules and commitments, as well as meals, dishes, laundry, work, and more.
I knew it was coming. It always does. That feeling of coming down. That feeling that you wish you could just stay in vacation-mode forever. That feeling of wanting to run away from real life because it is so much harder than what it seems like it should be.
It’s no wonder I feel that way. I just had nearly two weeks of nothing but my family. Quality time with them. Conversations with them. Hugs, kisses, and snuggles with them. My husband’s undivided attention. There was almost no TV. There was very little to distract us from simply having fun as a family.
And in real life there is 40 hours a week of work (times 2). There are bills to pay. There is a house to keep clean. There is a lot of stuff that just isn’t fun and it feels like it distracts us from one another.
It’s almost enough to say it isn’t worth going away because I know how it feels to come back.
Almost. But not really at all.
I can’t imagine going through real life all the time and never getting those special times as a family. And the real-life times are where we learn to make priorities. That’s where we learn what it means to be a family so that we can have fun together when we are away. Those real-life times are the ones that bond us together and teach us about one another.
Despite the feeling of coming down that I get when I return from a break, I wouldn’t change it for the world. I strive to enjoy every moment with my family. The fun ones; the learning ones; the real-life ones and the vacation ones.
Bring on real life!
How do you feel when you return from a vacation and how do you deal with it?