Taking a break

I've always been slightly ambivalent about vacations.

Growing up, my family went to visit family. I have good memories of hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa's house, playing with cousins, building card houses, and playing lots and lots of board games. Later memories are at the lake with the mingled smell of sun screen and camp fire at the end of long, lazy days.

During my first year of teaching in Houston, Texas, I lived with two close friends. Since we were teachers and had our breaks at the same time, Jenni suggested going to San Antonio for a few days as a vacation. It was a novel idea for me. I didn't know anyone in San Antonio. We stayed in a classic, old hotel with small rooms and did what you do when visiting lovely San Antonio for the first time--the Alamo and the River Walk. Though I don't have memories of it, we likely ate really good restaurant food.

Many of our family vacations over the last few years have been visiting family/friends kinds of vacations, which I think is still my favorite kind. This is what we did last week.

My very good friend and her daughter (Anna's best friend since she was  four) just moved to Paris this August. Initially,  I figured that Anna and I would head up during this fall break and spend some time with them. It turned into all four of us, and we stayed with another good friend.

On some days, we split up, Scott and Justin going the way of air and space museums and the like while we did other things, like letting the girls roll on the grass by the Eiffel Tower. On others, like the days when we went to Euro Disney for free (woo hoo), we stayed in contact with our cell phones and touched base or traded parents when necessary (like when Justin was ready to try roller coastering-- I am the roller coaster parent).

Our time in Paris was very kid-centered. If I were to go to Paris on my own, I would include a lot more café time, a trip to the Orsay Museum, and probably more time just sitting and chatting. As we did it, it was physically tiring, and filled with lots of activity.

But even though it wasn't necessarily what I would choose to do on my own, I have returned feeling refreshed and more ready to tackle what comes my way in the next few months.

I think I've undergone a shift in the way I view vacations, whatever form they take. I have seen the idea of vacationing as a modern extravagance, which is probably true in some ways.

But, people throughout history and cultures have had their festivals and times where normal life stops for a few days or weeks. I think of the Israelites going up to Jerusalem for yearly festivals, where they walked, talked, sang, and camped out on the way and back. It wasn't only a spiritual time to focus together, but a real break from the routines and pressures of their everyday lives of cooking, fishing, selling, etc.

I also think having vacation time when it is not ridiculously hot is very, very nice.