(But referring to what I wrote on my last post), one area I totally struggle with craving and wanting more than I have is vacations. I love getting away with our family and spending time in fun places. I picture us having a beach house on the Carolina coast that we own, where we spend time together every year, just hanging out, coffee on the deck, sleeping late, all of us cooking in the kitchen the “big chill” way, laughing and dancing, followed by much relaxing. I picture going to Tuscany. Renting a Villa for a couple of weeks, cooking Italian food, sleeping in a big bedroom with cool tile floor and large French doors that you can open up to a balcony with a view of the countryside while the breeze blows the white sheer curtains into my beautiful sunny room across the bed while I catch an afternoon nap. And later riding bikes into town to sit and have coffee on the patio at Anthony’s Bistro. Or I picture something as simple as just going to the mountains for a couple of nights and staying at a sweet Bed and Breakfast and just relaxing with a good book or slip off for a day hike. Or maybe a weekend in New York in the Fall. I love big cities. I want to live on vacation. I know people say I'd get tired of it, but I'd like to test that theory for myself. I love the smell of vacations. I love the ambiance of vacations. I love beautiful moments and creating fun memories. I have so many special memories of ordinary days with my kids, but I really love our vacation memories. I could totally do vacation everyday. I love the part of being a mom, where I get to design intentional fun and on purpose family memories. Someone saw all of us in Panera Bread the last time we were all together, and asked, “having some much needed family time?’ I said “yeah”, but I thought, no, really I protect our family time, we have it a lot! It’s so important to me, just like it was so important to my mom and dad. They always created “family time”. They created intentional vacations, family lake days or family dinners. As we got older and all of us moved out, they made sure we all got together, not just some of us, but a time when all of us could be together. I am like that and will even be more intense about it as I get older and as my kids move away. I will protect our family time with my life. I do it on a smaller scale now, but beach house, here we come! Anybody have one we can borrow?
