Leave the Suitcase in the Closet
Posted by Arwen Mosher in Family on Monday, September 20, 2010 6:32 PM
Today is Monday, but it feels like Saturday.
To be exact, it feels like Saturday after a really long week.
My husband was out of town from dawn on the Friday before last until late this past Saturday night. He was working long hours, mostly out of cell-phone range.
Nine days of that (on top of two week-long trips he took in August) gave me a new respect for military wives.
Here’s the good part: now that Bryan’s home, he’s taking time off and doesn’t have to go back to work until Thursday. The first part of this week is like a mini at-home vacation for us!
We love to travel, so generally we use my husband’s vacation time for that. We plan several trips a year and we really enjoy taking them. If there’s a long weekend, our instinct is to go somewhere.
So I’ve been a little surprised to discover, over the past year or two, how fun it is to have down-time at home. I guess there’s a reason “staycation” is a word.
This morning we took a trip to the apple orchard. Tomorrow we’ll visit the library, and we’re also considering hitting the local children’s museum. Mostly, though, we’re loving being together as a family. We can read books on the couch, linger over breakfast, take naps (even the grown-ups!) and build elaborate train tracks without a schedule hindering us.
Plus, we get to sleep in our own beds. It’s cost-free. And when our vacation time is over, there will be no suitcases to unpack. That fact alone makes it worth it for me!
On the rare occasion that we’re home on a long weekend, we tend to pack our time with to-do lists. In the future, though, I’m going to push for list-free at-home vacations more often. This is the life!
Has your family done a “staycation”? What do you see as the pros and cons of the experience?
Print Blog
Email a FriendPost a Comment
By submitting this form, you give Faith And Family Magazine permission to publish this comment. Comments will be published at our discretion, and may be edited for clarity and length. For best formatting, please limit your response to one paragraph and don't hit "enter" to force line breaks.
