Holiday Road, Summer Vacation

I love road trips. LOVE THEM. I love them with kids, I love them with a fox, I love them on top of a box, with a fork, with green eggs and ham.

I love coming home more.

We live a life that most people yearn for as a vacation. Instead of setting up my life to take breaks to do something I love, I work the things I love into my daily life. Sometimes that means waking up and deciding to hi the road for a day and stop at the places as they appear on the map. Delivering farm products has made this possible on a regular basis, opportunities to explore communities we would not have guessed would hold treasures of history and relationship.

This is my life. I love it.

Recently a family member asked if we didn't feel we were missing out by not taking family vacations to destination resorts. We can't leave the farm unattended, so usually I travel with the kids. Chad hates travel anyway so it all works out.

I've driven 813 miles to Yellowstone and camped with a 2 year old on my own. Why not?

Ive taken the kids to Galveston, TX twice, though once was for a funeral. Chicago was a delivery trip and was fun too.

My kids have a life that is like summer vacation never ends. I can only hope they will cherish their childhood adventures as much as I am loving making them.

Disney world seems to me like a lot of work. It does not appeal to me, they don't ask for it, so I figure they will go when the time comes.

I hope to take an RV to California when they are older and explore the coast....or maybe a train.

I plan to travel to Iceland in 2017. Alone. Or maybe with one kid. Depends.

Mostly, though, as I lay in the grass soaking in the sunshine, I realize that moments like this, even though the dishes need done and clothes are piling up, moments like this are the vacation that most people dream of. This is my life. What a blessing to be in this moment.

I love my house and the farm has several quiet spots for meditation and reflection.

The things about my house I don't love, I am changing up.

Life is an adventure. I don't see our little road trips as escapes from the daily grind, I see them as part of our life adventure. I've redesigned our lives and the definition of vacation does not apply. We have intentionally and mindfully done so.

When we were first engaged the minister that was doing our pre-wedding counseling asked us to write down our dream for retirement. Individually we both wrote, almost as a joke at the time, that we wanted to retire to an apple farm in Virginia. We talked about this through our first married years. Then, suddenly, we asked ourselves, why wait for retirement to build the life we dream of?

Ask yourself that question, what are you waiting for?

Still, I am also planning a weekend retreat for just me. I have writing to do that isn't getting done. That is more like a work retreat and I will return to the farm having done hard work and will be ready to play.  I guess I have reversed in our lives the vacation/work dichotomy.

It is an awesome way to live.