It’s that time of year <3
We are headed out this evening for a few days of fun in the sun with Rachel and Zach and the fab four.
Back in the day when we had three little ones filling our home with laughter, tussles, laundry and a never ending parade of plastic drink glasses that seemed to clone themselves all over the house…getting ready for vacation was a daunting task.
Like most women I know, I wanted to leave an immaculate house behind with all the laundry caught up so that all I had to do was deal with what we brought home.
This was somewhat like a Disney Fairy Tale that looks and sounds marvelous but is impossible to pull off in real life.
The result was that I was basically so unpleasant it took several days into the vacation for my family to actually like me again. I jest. Kind of.
I think it was Russ or Russ’s mom who gave me a little Family Circus cartoon clip that became my reminder to laugh in the process.
In the cartoon, the reader is viewing one of the children of the family, clad in only underwear and peeking through a crack in the door. The inside of the living room has a frazzled mom, more kids in their underwear and an array of suitcases and laundry piles. Out on the porch some kids are holding bats and balls and gloves. The caption says, “We can’t come out and play. We are getting ready for cayvation.”
The whole picture and the addition of the child-like wording for vacation gave me a place from which I could laugh.
Through the years when I am getting in my snit-mode of wanting everything perfect in the house before we leave, I will remember that cartoon and for some reason just saying “we are getting ready for cayvation” is enough to give me pause to giggle and get my perspective adjusted.
We live in a world that is full of anger and anxiety and offense.
We need to encourage each other with little snippets of joy and laughter and reminders that all of this is just temporary.
We are only passing through, dear friends…sojourners…travelers…on our way to a better place.
Let’s enjoy the journey and let’s help each other along.
May God bless you and I will check in with you next week.
For now…I have some laundry to do <3