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It must be vacation, because:
-I'm actually blogging! Sitting in one place and thinking enough to find something to write!
-My journal is overflowing. I'm writing the events, processing feelings that get brushed over in the busyness of life, taping in ticket stubs and bits of flyers...
-My body is aching (in a good way) from the increased physical activity
-I'm getting 8 or more hours of sleep each night
-I've read two, count that TWO novels in the last 5 days
-It's the middle of the day, and I'm finding myself enjoying cutting up celery, onion and cooked chicken for a chicken pasta salad to serve with dinner. I don't HAVE to, I'm not trying to squeeze it in...I just had the urge to make a salad for my family.
Our family is in Colorado, in Winter's Park. Our 21 year old is not with us, so there are 5 not 6. We have a 3 bedroom condo with 3 bathrooms...which is so incredibly luxurious compared to six in a hotel room or six in a tent!
The scenery is stunning, the pace is relaxed, and yet...
...vacation is a tender time for me. I think it is because my life is so full, and some of my pain is masked by busyness. I take time to be real with God each morning, but some of my aches and longings just get squashed beneath the to do list and the grocery list... there's never time to explore them. So many blog ideas come and go...there's not time to sit and record them. Correction: I don't take the time to sit and record them. (We all have 24 hours a day...)
But on vacation, the layers start to come off. Like an onion, I begin to shed skins. The skin of weariness peeled away after 20 hours of cat napping in the car and 10 hours of sleep our first night here. The skin of work began to shed as my Blackberry stayed on my bedside table instead of in my pocket. The skin of toughness is shed as I spend hour after hour with two teen age girls and one 12 year old boy. I wrote in my journal yesterday: is parenting teens supposed to be this painful? They seem to have an opposing opinion, a question or a remark for every facet of my life. "You're going to wear that? You're not going to curl your hair? You want us to do what? You'd actually buy that? I'll do it later. I'll get to it. I don't want to do that. Why should I set the table? It's vacation...why should I wash dishes? Why do I have to go check the laundry?" It just NEVER ENDS. And I seem more vulnerable...more susceptible...now that my layers are less. I'm not just reprimanding on the run...I'm feeling hurt by the lack of consideration. I'm missing adult interaction and cooperation. Nobody talks to me like this at work!
LATER: Well, I never got this posted...and now I'm back into the daily grind. Our vacation sped by, and was filled with much activity and much relaxation.
Interestingly, as I heard my 19 year old on the phone upon our return, her response was "Oh...we had a GREAT time..." She didn't mention once (at least not in my hearing) how hopeless her parents were... That's encouraging!
-I'm actually blogging! Sitting in one place and thinking enough to find something to write!
-My journal is overflowing. I'm writing the events, processing feelings that get brushed over in the busyness of life, taping in ticket stubs and bits of flyers...
-My body is aching (in a good way) from the increased physical activity
-I'm getting 8 or more hours of sleep each night
-I've read two, count that TWO novels in the last 5 days
-It's the middle of the day, and I'm finding myself enjoying cutting up celery, onion and cooked chicken for a chicken pasta salad to serve with dinner. I don't HAVE to, I'm not trying to squeeze it in...I just had the urge to make a salad for my family.
Our family is in Colorado, in Winter's Park. Our 21 year old is not with us, so there are 5 not 6. We have a 3 bedroom condo with 3 bathrooms...which is so incredibly luxurious compared to six in a hotel room or six in a tent!
The scenery is stunning, the pace is relaxed, and yet...
...vacation is a tender time for me. I think it is because my life is so full, and some of my pain is masked by busyness. I take time to be real with God each morning, but some of my aches and longings just get squashed beneath the to do list and the grocery list... there's never time to explore them. So many blog ideas come and go...there's not time to sit and record them. Correction: I don't take the time to sit and record them. (We all have 24 hours a day...)
But on vacation, the layers start to come off. Like an onion, I begin to shed skins. The skin of weariness peeled away after 20 hours of cat napping in the car and 10 hours of sleep our first night here. The skin of work began to shed as my Blackberry stayed on my bedside table instead of in my pocket. The skin of toughness is shed as I spend hour after hour with two teen age girls and one 12 year old boy. I wrote in my journal yesterday: is parenting teens supposed to be this painful? They seem to have an opposing opinion, a question or a remark for every facet of my life. "You're going to wear that? You're not going to curl your hair? You want us to do what? You'd actually buy that? I'll do it later. I'll get to it. I don't want to do that. Why should I set the table? It's vacation...why should I wash dishes? Why do I have to go check the laundry?" It just NEVER ENDS. And I seem more vulnerable...more susceptible...now that my layers are less. I'm not just reprimanding on the run...I'm feeling hurt by the lack of consideration. I'm missing adult interaction and cooperation. Nobody talks to me like this at work!
LATER: Well, I never got this posted...and now I'm back into the daily grind. Our vacation sped by, and was filled with much activity and much relaxation.
Interestingly, as I heard my 19 year old on the phone upon our return, her response was "Oh...we had a GREAT time..." She didn't mention once (at least not in my hearing) how hopeless her parents were... That's encouraging!
