No. Absolutely not. End of post.
Well, heck, I am not really a woman of my word, so I will continue writing…. Ever since being graced with my two girls, I realized, I like to talk the talk and very often that’s all there is. Meaning I used to be very smart but have suddenly realized, I know shit. They are your kids, your story, not my place to judge, praise, complain whatever.
And such is the story of our travels. I love them; getting ready for them, going away, being away, coming home, you get it.
Back when I learned I was expecting my first kid, hubs and I made an agreement to continue to travel. We would drag our kid where we go. Yes, we were to become one of those families. Very soon after our first trip, where everything was adjusted to fit the needs of our eight month old, I was again absolutely too vocal about the necessity of taking your kids on long and short adventures. In the next four years we had some amazing trips all together.
Then suddenly out of nowhere, truly, we started planning a trip to Iceland. This time however nothing worked in the favor of us bringing along the kids. It all went crumbling down from the minute I realized that most flights land in Reykjavik in the middle of the night. From then on it just spiraled further down. At some strange point the two of us looked at each other not voicing out what we really wanted to say. Because how could we, the traveling family, do something alone?
Hubby was more adamant and we finally agreed to do it – just the two of us. Wow. It scared me, it excited me, it made me want to stop time when I had to say goodbye to my girls, the little one not even knowing what was going on. A thousand “what ifs” haunted me as the departure date approached. Still everything was set and we left to explore the magic of Iceland.
After perhaps a day without them, without the schedule, without “Mommy, Mommy” at every turn, I let go; I took care of myself and hubs, stopped whipping around every time I’d hear a kid cry. We ate whatever we wanted, whenever it struck our mood, we laughed, we stopped the car all the time, we walked in the wind with the rain falling down on us, we held hands, swam in pools, stopped talking about the two of them and realized how lucky we are to still be so good together.
So, yes. I liked our trip alone together. And the kids liked us even more, if that is at all possible, once we got back with the gifts. Yeah! According to all my female friends, who are apparently smarter than me, who waited four years to give it a go, a get away for Mommy and Daddy is a must. But just now and then, we are still a traveling family.
2 Comments
My mother-in-law gave me good advice from the get go: take a vacation every year with the kids and take one without the kids. They have been married for 45 years, so I think she knows what she’d talking about. My husband and I regularly take vacations, even for 2 days, away from the kids and it’s been a marriage saver. Of course, the ones we take with the kids are the ones we talk about the most and we wouldn’t change a thing about them. As usual, it’s about balance.
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