We’ve been to the beach. We’ve been to the candy store. We’ve been to the library, and we’ve played 8 million games of Connect Four.
I’m officially done - and I still have eight more days of vacation to go.
Please don’t get me wrong - I’m here in one of the most beautiful places in the United States, and I’m staying rent-free in my mother’s beautiful summer home, where I can be quite certain my husband and I are the only people to ever sleep in our bed.
(Because you know that skeeves you out. C’mon, tell me you don’t think about that when you get between those rental home/hotel sheets.)
My husband left this morning, and what seemed like a good idea waaaaaaay back in June when the sun beat down on the frying pan called Urbana, IL suddenly seemed like a terrible mistake.
The Poo and I are staying here for another week and a half, and flying back to the midwest via Boston next Wednesday.
I watched him drive away and thought about my own kitchen with longing. No one to complain if I got butter on the stove. No cat (sorry, sis) to keep out of my room. No hurry to get out of the shower in the morning so someone else can get in.
What is that saying about house guests and old fish? Three days and they both stink?
We’re here with my sister’s family and my mother, and my brother occasionally makes a cameo appearance. While I love them all very much, it is hard to manage two toddlers only six months apart (both with - ahem - strong personalities) and a five-year-old and one car between us.
I never thought I’d say this, but after a month on the road - Cleveland, Rochester, NY and Cape Cod, and relatives in every stop - I’m ready to go home.
To Urbana.
God help me.
How long is too long to stay with your family?
[tags]family, visit, vacation, how long is too long, tired, fatigue, enjoy, release, relax[/tags]
Photo graciously provided by epmd, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved
3 responses so far ↓
mcewen // Jul 24, 2007 at 5:59 am
That’s why we have holidays, to make us appreciate the hum drum qualities of home - great to go away, even better to come home!
Cheers
Amy Tucker // Jul 24, 2007 at 6:31 am
I am a huge fan of the three day rule. If we have to stay longer then we stay in a hotel.
Whitney // Jul 24, 2007 at 6:42 am
I am so sorry I didn’t know you were at the Cape- we just got home from there!
I went with the three of us (my husband stayed home) my mom, sister and brother. Likewise, there were many different agendas from time to time, but on the whole the one big daily activity helped a lot.
My kids are a little older, so we did whale watches, a fishing trip, a movie one night… Maybe a daily trip to the playground….Walking through town- something to keep everybody partially engaged.
It will really get better as the kids get older and self entertain more, I promise.
We do a trip every summer down to see my husband’s sister and the cousins, and this family ritual has actually made the kids better friends and very close to their cousins, which can be difficult since I live in the NorthEast and they live in Florida.
So there are some upsides, too, but those weeks that seem like endless opportunities for sniping and critique when kids are little can really put a damper on your enthusiasm for the good things that may lie ahead.
Leave a Comment