Just Relax!

My sister and her family just headed home after a short visit. We used to do the road trip in order to visit grandparents and cousins when I was little, but the difference between then and now is that those trips were not our vacations. This trip was their vacation. And it seems to be becoming the norm.


I’m not sure if it’s really the economy and the fact that we are all a little concerned if not down right paranoid about keeping our jobs. Some people do claim that they are scared to ask for time off but I think we’re more worried about what we’re going to do with the time we take off. Even if you can afford to take an extravagant vacation most people aren’t taking them. It seems irresponsible when you have friends and neighbors that are suffering. So we pull together a few days and call it “vacation.” Then we have no idea what to do with it.

I’m not good about taking down-time. Mostly it’s because I like working on things and I like to get things done. I have lists of projects that need to get done, should get done and that I’d like to get done. If I do have a desire for down-time then my husband is generally in work mode. Nothing zaps the relaxation out of watching an hour of TV like having to lift your feet so that he can vacuum under them. It’s like a guilt gun aimed at my head—I can pretend to ignore it but the threat still sends me off to clean out the fridge as soon as he leaves.

I’m not sure how my sister and her family felt about their visit, but I’m guessing that it wasn’t much of a change from being home. That’s because her husband worked on painting my son’s room, I enlisted her to help me with a wedding dinner, and we spent large spans of time on mommy patrol cleaning up dishes and empty Popsicle wrappers, changing diapers and manning the 24-hour diner in the kitchen. We punctuated the weekend with the sort-of-vacation-like-activities of watching movies and going swimming. According to the Italians we Americans know how to be entertained but we have no idea how to relax.

It appears that we’ve done this to ourselves. If the Italians can manage to educate and feed their children, and pay the bills while still engaging in some actual downtime then so should we. When I was little, the two week camping trip was common. Now we get excited for three-day weekends. It’s time we start a revolution and actually relax. We could read books and meditate. We could take walks in nature. We could chop vegetables and make big crusty loaves of bread. I’m getting excited just thinking about it! Just one thing—I’m going to need a few of you to volunteer to fill in for me while I’m relaxing. I’ve got to cover the car pools, sports practices and the house work. I’ll be waiting for your call!