On Vacation

Aaahhh sweet vacation.  It's not until you return from one that you realize just what a necessity they are. 

I recently finished an oh-too-brief pampered vacation to the beautiful azure waters of the Carribbean. 
Ever since my first visit over two decades ago, I've made return trips a gotta-have expense in my budget.  There's just something about those white sandy beaches, crystal blue waters, and endless sunshine that recharges my batteries like no other place on earth can do.  It's a sight for sore eyes -- and a worn-out, weary spirit.

This time down, the real luxury was bringing our family with us.  In today's world, kids grow up and move beyond their hometowns, making time together a rare gift.  This is certainly true for our family.  So we traveled from Chicago, Philadelphia, Hoboken, Brooklyn, Fort Lauderdale, Boynton Beach and Bemus Point just to share a few meals and fancy cocktails and precious conversation.  Dipping our feet into sandy beaches and clear waters while soaking in the radiant sunshine made it that much better.

A trip like this doesn't happen on a whim -- it takes months of planning (and saving!) to bring so many together for a few days of fun.  But it is so worth it.  The memories truly last a lifetime; the photographs instantly recall the smiles; and the joy creates the 'worth it' that gives reason to plan again. 

THIS to me is living.  It's for times like these that we all work so hard.  It's why we spend years on education to create better lives for ourselves and our families.  It's why we teach our kids to love spending time with one another.  Just for moments like this.  To raise a glass and toast birthdays and anniversaries and graduations.  To hear how their jobs are going and share wisdom and advice.  To commiserate over stretch marks and bathing suits and really white bodies while laughing over drink carriers and towel animals and 'oh-he-was-terrible' karaoke.

Some often question the price of a family vacation; the financial price, the time-away-from-work price, the I-have-too-much-to-do-to-take-a-vacation price.  Sadly, I have met too many who rarely -- or never -- have taken a vacation.  But I have always believed differently.  I believe you can't afford not to take a vacation.  It revives you, inspires you, re-focuses you, and renews relationships with those you love most. 

At the end of my life and yours, it will be the family vacation pics and the memories they represent that will give comfort and smiles from a life well lived -- not the promotions or the salary or the big projects of our work.  It will be the seashell held to my ear that will help me best recall the sounds, scents, and sights of the places I loved most -- shared with the people I love most.  It is our family and friends, after all, who, every once in a while, help us unplug from this busy, crazy, hooked-up-24/7 life of ours to remind us just what we're living for.