School Vacation

As we near the end of another school vacation week, I find myself pondering what vacation really means to us all...

1. Vacation means sleeping later, and perhaps even sleeping better, because there are fewer stressful things kicking around in your sleeping head. Of course, if you are the grownup in the household, there are always stressful things kicking around in your sleeping head, and never really enough hours for sleeping late.

2. Vacation means traveling paths (literally or figuratively) that you don't usually travel. There was some of that for each of us. And we are all better for it.

3. Vacation means a little less "have to" and a little more "want to." Meaning that the return to "have to" may be a painful adjustment come Monday.

4. Vacation means you're that much closer to something, whether it's the next vacation or the summer or just the return to school.

5. Vacation means a little more guilt about going to work (because you're not sharing the time with your kids), but a lot more realization that working from home only really works when the kids are at school.

6. Vacation means feeling bad if you haven't planned a trip, but feeling good about not having to manage the packing, hurrying, and logistics of a trip.

7. Vacation means lunch for breakfast or breakfast for lunch or whatever a week of being less structured has to offer.

8. Vacation means some plans accomplished and some not, and hopes and wishes for the next vacation.

As we near the end of the vacation, I am sure there will be mixed reviews--it's always hard not to feel that the days were squandered and that you could use just one or two more. But, as always, I think we each will come out of this vacation with a new skill or two, a few things learned, and a little banked energy for the weeks ahead. And perhaps that's all you can really expect from a school vacation.