During the week leading up to the first day of school, we logged over 1500 miles in our aging van, spending six nights in five different locations.
On paper and in our explanations, our plans seemed less relaxing vacation, more it will be hard-but-worth-it.
We tried to squeeze in memories and hugs before crying in an airport, proudly watching dear ones embark on a life-time-in-the-making journey.
Then, we pretended our not-quite-two-full-days with our Southern family was at least a week long, and we stretched the edges to make more fit.
The days felt long in the right kind of way, filled with the best of things: sliding down the laundry-chute, eating grits and piles of bacon, making up good and messy cousin-fun in the backyard, hugging, listening to stories, laughing.
A husband who actively looked for ways to free me up to sit at the table with family, parents who joined in on our haphazard travel, children who went with the always-changing-flow - I know I came up a winner.
On the drive home, we took an overnight detour at the beach. Somehow, two hours in the evening and less than two hours the next morning satisfied our beach craving - a gift.
And while all of this is being chronicled a full week after the fact, when the cream of the good memories rises to the top even easier, it was a truly good vacation.
Maybe we don't always need a full restart to our family system to feel like we are ready for what lies ahead.
Maybe there are times when just a refresh is enough.
Just some time to focus solely on those closest to you,
to notice the depths of your breaths and the details around you,
to long-term plan, dream, problem-solve,
to pause in gratitude for what is right now -
sometimes that is exactly what you need.
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