I just got back from a vacation from Florida, something my family and I have done every year for the last six years or so. We had an amazing vacation and yet the feeling you get immediately after said vacation is of exhaustion, stress and should haves and would haves. I think the first couple of times we were all just happy to be in Florida without any specific expectations-the experience is amazing because it created itself without expectation and became the vacation that it was.

The simple act of vacationing becomes an endless loop with something missing but your not sure what, it just doesn’t seem to fulfill what you were expecting. I believe what is missing is that initial wonder of seeing and experiencing things for the first time-I am going to digress a bit but I hope with clarity.

So here is my digression-a long standing vacation becomes like the marriage that seems to stale-your not sure what is missing but something just doesn’t seem to offer the same contentment anymore. I believe in a marriage it is just the fact that a single ingredient in the relationship is missing, something either of the spouses felt was insignificant but it meant everything to the relationship. So back to the vacation-something we lose in the translation, something that made the first and second time so special seems to be overlooked or left out, it is finding this illusive ingredient that brings back the magic and wonder in a vacation the same as the relationship.

I hope that made sense, so this time we went somewhere new to resurrect the new and exciting elements of the that first vacation. My son and I have been fighting back and forth between the pros and cons of familiarity vs new and excitement. The great thing about familiarity as it relates to fishing, camping and dining-you know what to expect and aren’t disappointed. The great thing about the new and exciting is just that-it’s new and exciting.

After all the time and effort and expense we tend to be disappointed because the vacation just didn’t meet our expectations but when you return to the same vacation in our fond memory all we remember are those special things we did, this is why I consider a vacation like the movie we have to see again-we are too thick into the vacation and too deep in the trench of expectations that we don’t realize that we are actually enjoying the day and relaxing. When you go back through our pictures and memories we will realize we had the vacation we needed we just couldn’t see through the distractions of stress, exhaustion and aggravation that is often the family vacation.