It’s mid-April and our families (mine and my sisters’) are
already “knee deep in the water somewhere.”
(Borrowed that from the Zac Brown Band, it is a song my son adores and
played every chance he got—based on the dictates of his sisters and their level
of patience, last summer.) We are trying
to make plans for our family vacation.
What are you going to do?
Hang around the house and try to get some projects done? Visit the beach? Take a trip to the family
home? How do you decide what you’ll do?
Sometimes out of necessity, our plans are determined for us;
then others, we get to choose. This year
we all want to be together and were creatively planning to make it happen. I, inevitably, encounter at least some stress
about planning our vacation time.
Of course, there are always the money concerns—can we afford
it, but also, can I afford to be away from the shop? Then, this will be the first time, in a long while, that Kendall and I have been
away from Hodgepodge and ARTifacts at the same time—we usually travel on
separate planes, just like the President and Veep. Well, not quite, but there is a lot of
coordinating involved when both of us are out of town at the same time. Then, shortly after we return, I’ll have to
turn around and head to Atlanta for the market.
So, that builds the stress, too.
It usually takes about three days to get back into the swing of the shop
and through all of the junk mail—which, by the way, is getting more difficult
to distinguish from the “real” mail.
Then I will hop in the car and leave again. (Thank goodness for a phenomenal staff!) It will, naturally, all come together and we
will make some great memories—that is the best part, making the memories!
Memories can fortunately be made anywhere. You don’t have to be on a beach or in the
mountains. While I have found that it’s easier to sit still and relax when I’m
not in close proximity to my house or shop, I do enjoy being at home. Accomplishing projects around the house or
shop is not only satisfying, but reinvigorating. There is nothing like the sense of
accomplishment over a chore or elective project. Do you agree?
I’d almost rather use the money spent on vacation to add a
permanent improvement to the house. I
wonder if my brother-in-law and nephews would consider it relaxing to make
memories with us building a car port here at the house. He could bring his boat and they could take
it out on the Cumberland at the end of the day.
I’d even pack some sandwiches for them to enjoy. (Hey, I’m a giver!)
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| The view from my favorite place in the world--our back patio. |
Nah, I enjoy time spent with our entire family on the Nomini
Creek in the Northern Neck area of the Virginia coast. It really is my favorite place—heck, a photo
of the sun setting on the creek is the wallpaper on my phone.
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| Sunset on Nomini Creek--checking our pulse rate . . . |
I guess I need a little balance. Time away is good, but the memory making can
happen anywhere. So we’ll go to VA and
have a great time, and while there, after a few beers, I’ll plant the car port
seed in Bill’s subconscious.
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