I Need A Vacation

I need a vacation. My last trip was in August, nearly 5 months ago. I don't do well with long breaks between trips. Jim and I both have this itch to travel and experience the world. We have to have some trip in the works or we get antsy. Well, we do have a trip planned for next month, and apparently it's not holding me, because I have the urge to RUN AWAY NOW!

I love my life and my family and friends, but sometimes I just need to get away from it all. I need to get away from the drama that others create, from the difficulties in my own life. While we're away, I miss my animals, and I worry about them, but I feel so relaxed and happy. I love learning, and experiencing, and I yearn for that again. 5 months is too long.

We are really blessed to have wonderful family and friends in our lives who look after our furry family for us. The dogs go to my Mom and Dad's house, and a good friend stays with our cats. Another good friend stops in and gives Indiana her daily kidney fluids. So I know my babies are well taken care of. Plus, I make my Mom email me every morning with a "baby update," and I call home every evening. I still get anxious about leaving, and I even feel guilty too. With my limited time left with Indiana, I question whether I should be away. Not because something would happen while I'm gone (though Mr. Squiggles went missing while we were in Paris), but because someday when she's gone, I know I'd give anything to have an extra week with her. How can I go away for a week when that time is so precious?

The answer is simple. I have no choice. My heart needs for me to travel. I can leave on my trip and come back a better person, a better Mom. It makes me appreciate more what I have left back home. And selfishly, traveling just makes me happy. I do so little purely for myself. Is a few weeks a year too much to ask? So I go away on these trips, limiting myself to only so many nights away, only so many hours away, knowing that I have made the best preparations as possible for my family. And I come back enriched, relaxed, maybe more tired than when I left, but definitely a better person for it.