Staycation–All I Ever Wanted

If you know anything at all about me, it’s that I love to travel. My TBL (Travel Bucket List) is still rather long, despite recent trips to Japan and France. There’s so much of the world to see and so little time.

So it may seem strange for me to pen a peon to Staycations, but they do have their uses. This coming weekend is Memorial Day, and I’ll be staying put. Living relatively close to a beach area means that the roads in my town become a nightmare, so too do the stores and restaurants. And by no means will I go anywhere near the beach towns a thirty minute drive for me. The tourons (as we so lovingly call them) can have the whole shebang.

Instead I’ll spend time with my family, since we all have off for a change. We might grill the traditional burgers or have the even more traditional–for our area–blue crabs, but we might not. We’ll play board games and video games and take the dogs for a leisurely walk around the neighborhood. Not once will I have to worry how I’m dressed. Staycation slovenly is de rigueur. (Of course I always could get dressed up. Maybe even throw a tea party with fancy hats and all. My family loves those.) The point is, I will be master of my fate.

Not once will I stress about where my passport is or if my luggage is overweight or if I have enough gas to make it to the next exit. The only road rage I’ll encounter will be on Mario Cart.

For some, Staycations mean exploring the resources of the local area, but for me having a big family meant money was tight. As a teacher, my six week summer break meant being a SAHM. During those years, I meticulously planned our weeks so they did not devolve into just watching TV or playing video games. Any sort of art museum, science museum, or historical site, meant travel and money (at least for gas), so we stayed close to home.

But we weren’t bored. We made tie dye shirts and macaroni art and invented games and even did some school work to keep from backsliding. We visited the library, the park, and the nearby nature center. We made our own cheese and marshmallows. We planted and tended a garden. And though these, too, involved money, they were also dual purpose, since each could be worn or eaten or a gift for Dad.

Though hard work for me, it made memories for all of us. The kids often speak of those days fondly, even if they whined about melted crayon arts and crafts at the time. I’m proud of the big humans they’ve grown into, but I sometimes miss the little humans they were. So with the two who are at home, I’ll try to recapture some of the magic of those days in our mini Staycation.

Though they’ll probably hate the worksheets.