Last week I had a little vacation with my sister when she visited me in my home.  We had 4 glorious "sister days"  visiting, shopping, eating out, cooking, and mulling over garden plans.  Thinking of this mini-vacation apart from the normal daily routine reminds me of a vacation I will be taking away from home soon.

Sometime this summer our family will drive to South Carolina to a resort just outside of Charleston to spend a week long vacation with 20 of my extended family members....3 people cannot make it this year because of other commitments. Family Vacation is a wonderful tradition my parents started about 10 years ago.  My younger sister planned it this year...and....

This how it works:

1.   Parents sponsor

2.   1 of 3 sisters [and their families] choose, in turn, where we will vacation

3.   Immediately after current year's vacation, person who's responsible for next year's vacation begins to try to think of places to go

4.   Said person gets busy with life and kind of forgets about it

5.   Very soon after Christmas designated vacation planner makes note to start scouting  for vacation places early in the new year

6.   Starts casually looking

7.   Soon realizes it's March, that she's spent an inordinate amount of time on the computer, and still has not made any headway

8.   Begins to feel a little anxious

9.   Checks dates with family members to find best possible times that everyone [all 23] can come

10.  Finds a place, but realizes the beds and bedrooms and couples and singles do not configure properly

11.  Begins to panic

12.  Checks a few places for vacancy; realizes people actually make their reservations for next year the last day of their current vacation...and this is next year...

13.  Really begins to panic

14.  Remembers that she does not have to panic

15.  Asks for Help

16.  Finds a place that seems to work:  big enough, vacancy on right dates, centrally located to all family members, within budget

17.  Books the dates and hopes the pictures on the Internet are true to life

18.  Sends information packets to  families that includes maps, directions, sleeping accommodations schedule showing which family cooks and serves on which night, schedule showing which night will be designated as Sharing Night [a time set aside to share with each other what the Lord is teaching us, or needs and desires we long to see fulfilled in our lives], and places of interest in the area we'll be vacationing in.

19.  Fights the second guessing that goes on after the non-refundable down payment is made

20.  Realizes it's really not the place but the people that make it all good

21.  Humbly arrives hoping the place is as she pictured it

22.  Is relieved when it is, or is even better

23.  Is reminded that it's not really the place but the people that make it all good

24.  Decides to Smile

25.  Relaxes

26.  Has a wonderful time

27.  Can't wait for next year's family vacation, and is soooooo glad it's her sister's year to plan it!

Comments

[Diane]

I love this! What a great idea! And I love how real you make it! So true--we start with such great enthusiasm for the next event...and immediately put it aside with the demands of daily living!

Great post today--as usual!

Diane

[flipflop]

I love Charleston! We go there OFTEN too(all of us -family). We've stayed in Charleston, on the Isle of Palms, Wild Dunes, Folley Beach, etc. Enjoy your time with the fam.

[Deb]

It is interesting that you should mention this whole family vacation idea. I just heard about something like this from a neighbor who's an empty-nester with 3 married children who each take a year and decides where the rest of the family will meet them. One year it will be Denver, another Florida, etc. That whole concept right now is unbelievable to me, but it is definitely an idea to keep in mind once all our family are grown and gone.

I hope you have a nice time. I've visited Charleston once, last year, with my sister--just the two of us. And we had such fun. At the time I didn't know we were such opposites in how we each enjoyed vacationing. I wanted to do everything every minute and take pictures of it all; she wanted to sit, relax and read. On a vacation? :)

Thanks for your post.

[Debi]

Yes, I am looking forward to visiting Charleston, as I have never been there...and we are going to Isle of Palms, FlipFlop :)

[flipflop]

I hope you have a GREAT time! So many great places to eat and visit. I love Isle of Palms. It's not nearly as commercial as Myrtle Beach.

[Debi]

Deb-- yes, we do exactly what your neighbor does. Maybe next Friday, I'll post some of the places we've gone. It's a great way to connect with each other, especially now that some of our children have left the nest and are located in various places throughout the USA..
Funny about you and your sister...personalities certainly do emerge in this way on these vacations :) that's why we plan just enough to make things available, but hardly mandatory.

[Cindy]

How true, how true! Guess it will be my turn to plan next year's vacation. I'd better start thinking. Hmmmm...! Anyone have any good ideas?