18 Vacations To Plan

Walt Disney World Vacation 2003

Everything about this specific blog post was somewhat therapeutic for me. It started yesterday when my almost 19 year old son booked his own weekend getaway with friends. As a mom who loves to travel whether it be day trips, weekend getaways, or far away adventures I have always traveled with my children, all of the time, since they were just little babies. How did time fly by so fast that he was now traveling with out me? It got me to thinking of how truly fast their childhood goes, whether I was ready to face it or not, he was grown up and there was no way of turning back the clocks. 

For this piece, I looked through many pictures of our trips together which brought back a flood of memories. Two of my other children looked through them with me and we spent a few good hours smiling and reminiscing of wonderful things we have done together through out the years. I looked at the pictures and some of them really felt like just yesterday but were dated up to sixteen years ago. It dawned upon me that although while you are caught up in the moment of raising young children it can seem like you have been doing it forever, but the actual time spent doing it is so much shorter when you really lay it out in numbers. 
So you ask me "What do you mean by laying it out in numbers?" and this is my reply to you. You have 18 Spring Breaks to plan together, 18 Summer vacations to take, 18 Winter breaks to cherish. When you put it into perspective as such, it can even give you an anxiety right? Such a small number before they are going to be breaking away and creating memories on their own without you. When you stop and think of it like this doesn't it make you want to jump in the car today and get out there with them? 

I am very excited for all of my children's future plans and awesome memories they are going to make as adults, I know I will make even more memories along with them as grown ups, doing things we have never done before. However I can tell you, there is nothing more priceless and more special to me than the time we have spent together traveling and seeing the world together near or far while they were youngsters. 

I only hope this ignites your spark into a fire to start making those plans on creating those awesome memories with your young children while they are still small enough to hold your hand. It does not have to be a trip across the country, visiting a local museum and staying in a local hotel, planning a weekend away, or taking that a week off to do a bunch of day trips. Remember 18 is a number that is easy to count to and sneaks up on you whether you are ready or not!

Note to self: Next time you write an emotional blog about your children growing up to fast do not listen to Adele's 'Make You Feel My Love' without a large box of tissues next to your laptop!