What Keeps Our Family Close

The Best Memories of My Life - family vacations

     Every year of my life, my parents loaded my two sisters and me in the family car and headed to the beach. Now, mind you, we were by no means a ‘well-off’ family. Both of my parents worked hard – we lived in a rented house that had only ONE bathroom (for 5 people!) – & only ONE car that daddy took to work (and that car never had an air-conditioner because A/C’s cost extra……..Did I say we lived in MISSISSIPPI?) My mom walked to work and we all walked to school (and it truly WAS around 10 blocks!).

     We spent all of our time out on the beach – because daddy would say, “we can go to a pool back home (the city pool), we don’t have a beach and an ocean back home”. I heard those SAME words come out of MY mouth when my OWN kids were little while on OUR annual beach trips. To this day, we all still LOVE the beach.

     A few times we did go somewhere different – like the Smokey Mountains, New Orleans, & Hot Springs. One year we went to Albuquerque, New Mexico because my older sister wanted to see where she was born. That was the trip where she and I finally stopped fighting (after a lifetime of going at each other), because daddy TRULY DID pull over and try to put us out on the side of the road somewhere in west Texas. She and I agreed to call a truce – just for the remainder of the trip……but it has more or less remained intact for the last 40 years.

     These are some of the most special memories of my life. It seemed to be the one time that mama and daddy relaxed and cut up with us girls. My daddy was a great amateur cartoonist, and captured even the silliest of things that happened in various drawings of our escapades. I remember we laughed about EVERYTHING……and I remember my daddy always saying, “We don’t have much money, but we have a LOT of LOVE”.

     Vacations are sacred to me. I truly believe they are an integral part of keeping a family close. It gets us out of the daily routine and allows us to explore something new and different – including each other at a deeper level. Patrick and I took our own kids to the beach every year – as well as other great places like Yellowstone National Park, swimming with the stingrays in the Cayman Islands, white water rafting in North Carolina, snow skiing in Colorado, water skiing in Missouri, & snorkeling in Cozumel.

     And although we go to other places, we always, ALWAYS have a least a few days at the Florida beach. My kids are grown now, but I don’t think they would ever miss a family vacation. My married daughter once asked me, “Mama, promise me, that no matter what, we’ll always ALL go the beach together every year.” Now what parent wouldn’t want to hear that????

     Keep your family close - get to know your kids and spouse – RELAX, unwind, and have FUN. No one ever laid on their deathbed and said, “I wish I had worked more”. Have no regrets about missed opportunities to make beautiful memories and lasting bonds with your family. If you’ve been thinking of planning something for your family, DO IT. There is no better time than RIGHT NOW.

Robin

I’d love to hear your best family vacation memory…..share your with the “comments” on this BLOG.