Enjoy!
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JULY 2006
July 1st came and went, as did our first week of holidays. My peanut, my four-legged chickadee and I had a wonderful time at the lake. It is amazing how the lake air can knock your socks off and relax you all in one swoop! It was also a wonderful test to see how well my littlest peanut travels and she was a trooper!
When I was a kid my family always camped at a host of nearby lakes for our summer holidays. My Dad was a traveling salesman which took him away from home 5 out of 7 week days. My Mom was a stay-at-home-Mrs-Cleaver-sort-of-clone; or she tried to be for the most part of our growing up years.
My Dad, (God love him), spent the first 13 years of his married life surrounded by girls; my mother, my older sister and I. Thus, his weekends of camping were his saving grace away from the daily grind. The traveling part, was nothing more than a nuisance, which is one of the reasons we camped at nearby locations.
My Mom came from a family of all girls, and roughing it, was NOT in her vernacular. Needless to say my parents were on opposite ends of the spectrum when it came to camping!
Our camping career started in a tent, and very soon we graduated to tent-trailers. A couple of years of that led to hard-top tent trailers, to hard top trailers to finally a 18’ Airstream; equipped with fridge, stove, tub, shower, toilet and sink. All the the roughing essentials my Mom needed.
As kids, we learned very early on that getting to the destination was the most important factor. Stopping in-between was not an option according to my Dad.
“You better pee before we leave cause you never know when we’re gonna stop again and it’s gonna be a long time before we HAVE to stop for gas. Get in the car, move it! move it! move it!”
We also learned very quickly that our weekend roving was not for those of tiny bladders. We did a lot of traveling in the dead of night, so as young children we were awake when we left, and the next time our eyes popped open, we were already at our destination. Although it made easier traveling for our parents, what we, as children learned, was that it takes ZERO time to get anywhere.
Fast-forward 30 years. I am now instinctively handing that down to my own progeny.“Get in the car, we leave at dawn, and we’ll drive till the gas light comes on!” Good thing we were only 3 hours away from the lake.
The short story; both my chickadees are great travelers, AND they loved being at the lake. I can see many weekends this summer lounging on the deck and soaking up the sun.
My lesson for our up-coming holidays...I need to realize that pit-stops are a good thing! It allows all of us to stretch our legs and our minds. It opens up the possibilities of exploring a new area or green space if only long enough to say “We’ve been there!”
Its time I realized that holidays are not for rushing around wildly trying to reach the end of them…its for exploring and resting and enjoying the lazy days of summer.
After all, at my age, resting and stretching have become a requirement!
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