We did it. In the nearly three months since my last blog I was able to GET AWAY from the craziness of our day-to-day lives. And I did it TWICE. And I feel human. Connected. With a baseline of peace that is a foundation for how I’m living today. WHEW.
We did it first as a family and took a vacation for a week. Let me give some context. I have had the hardest and best job of my career for the last four years, so our time away as a family has been great, but there was always the necessary break away time to go get on the computer. I can honestly say that on every day off I have taken in four years, I worked for at least two hours, if not more. I know, I am grossing out on myself as I write this, but I want to be honest.
But for this trip two months ago, I was completely unplugged. I left the laptop at home. I got to focus 100% on my family. And it took the form of things like jumping on a trampoline. Playing games. Reading books together. Taking walks. Hanging out. We stayed with my husband’s family in Minnesota. I am blessed with exceptional in-laws. My kids played with their cousins. There was so, so much joy. I was able to be present with everyone – and laugh and listen and not continually glance at my blackberry.
When we came home there was a different dynamic. It was like hitting a reset button. I felt like I came back from the brink, got a chance to take stock, reshuffle myself and find a way back into the family groove.
That has manifested in small ways. When I get home from work now, I don’t go straight into clean up mode. I wrestle. I giggle. I draw pictures. I roll around on the floor yelling “HiiiiiYahhhhh!” When it is time for the girls to go to bed, I race my oldest to the sink to brush our teeth. I tease her, I tickle her. We play and play and play.
The second get-away was alone with my better half. We splurged and stayed in a fabulous place north of LA in Ojai Valley. It is the most money we have spent on ourselves since we had kids – nice dinners and I actually had a spa treatment. We had a fireplace in our room. We walked around holding hands. We got to talk about more than our jobs, our kids and our home projects. We cracked each other up. We reminisced; we thanked God for the paths of our lives – independently and together.
Reconnecting with him has manifested in bigger ways. In the last few weeks we have faced some challenges that have pushed us both to our mental and physical limits. We have discharged on each other but that time reconnecting has helped us both come back from the brink and find ways to help each other.
Our next time away is booked for August. Same plan to take time away as a family and disconnect from everything else. I can’t wait.
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