Changes In Lattitude

“When you take small children along, it’s not a vacation as much as a change of location,” Shirley Gaddis Soto. (my mom)

Summer is “vacay” time. Most of us try to get away from our day-to-day patterns and obligations in pursuit of a little refreshing. In Phoenix a necessary component is escaping the brutal heat, so many of us point west and head to the beaches in San Diego; a mere 360 mile trek.

We stay at the same ocean-front condo every year so it feels like home. I love listening to the waves as I fall asleep at night. (I try to ignore the frequent sound of low-flying aircraft heading to and from the nearby airport) I thrive on just sitting on my patio (I put a beach chair on top of the picnic table, rest my feet on the wall, and have a birds-eye-view) and looking at the sea. The coolness, the vastness, the contradiction of calm and power…it awes me and always brings me closer to its creator—my creator. It’s soothing.

I have much more time now that my kids are grown to just sit admiring the blissfully cool view. Not always though. When the kids were young I had much less time for myself. My husband and I accepted the above quote as sound advice when our kids were little, however, so unlike many young parents we tried to figure a way out of spending our entire vacation tending to the needs of our young ones. I encourage everyone to take this wisdom from my mother to heart. Whether you tend to be a slave to family needs or the job that pays you, make every effort to free yourself when you’re on vacation.

A few simple choices can make the difference between returning home refreshed, or exhausted and frustrated. As far as family is concerned, everyone should be able to relax and have fun. Decide on a location and lodging that is conducive to this. Can the baby be easily contained or does she have direct access to the stairs or open fire pit? Are there fun, affordable activities nearby or would you have to spend hours driving to get to the theme part. Are your kids old enough to enjoy a theme park or other (expensive) outings? (We took our kids to Knotts Berry Farm when our son was three years old and our daughter was three months. Classic young parents’ mistake! We lugged the baby around trying to keep her happy and spent a lot of time looking for rides that our son was tall enough to ride.)

Eat simply or eat out. Cooking is labor intensive and the cleanup can rob time away from quality moments together, unless the whole family is involved in helping.
Bring a teen-aged girl along if possible. She can play with one child while you play with the other, help keep track of them while you’re on outings and allow you to get away for a quiet dinner sans kids. Pay her way, plus a small wage, give her time off to enjoy the beach alone and she’ll love it.

Leave work behind (physically and mentally). Take time to relax your body and mind and feed your spirit with joy and fun. Don’t add extra stress by trying to do too much or over-spend.

Make every effort to ensure that vacation is not (to quote Jimmy Buffet)just a change in latitude, but a change in attitude. You can take one any time if you apply that philosophy. Where are you now?
Diane Markins