(Photo Credit: Kimona Paramour Photography)
Like the trip to your destination, once you arrive, there are some things you can’t control. There may be days where the unfamiliar food is a thrill to everyone in your family…except one very unhappy person. Maybe everyone is ready to sleep except for the ones who need it the most.
As an adventure-loving homebody, I need a certain amount of familiarity to feel comfortable, and try to provide the same thing for the rest of the fam while we are away from home.
For a long time, I thought I was a flexible person. I loved going new places, trying new foods, and meeting new people.
As time has passed, I have realized I am not that flexible.
About 13 years ago on New Year’s Eve, after a difficult 16 months at a job I hated, I quit. That night, an unseasonably warm one in the 60’s, I went with a friend to Times Square for New Year’s.
We got there in the early evening. The crowds prevented us from getting close to the ball. It was barely visible from where we stood, crushed in the pack of people, breathing in the cool air, completely exhilarated. I felt such a freedom from the heavy weight of the job I had given up. The energy in the city was incredible.
Resentment tends to build, and it lingers. We often to think of it as a feeling we have towards others.
A game changer for me this year was realizing that resentment isn’t a feeling toward anyone. It’s just something I’m experiencing.
I’ve read so many tips for easing travel with kids, and most of them involved mess or more work for the parents (individually wrapped gifts to be opened hourly on the flight, anyone?) And any parent knows that if your kid is having a certain kind of day, NOTHING you do is going to help.
With something like this, you just have to say a prayer and put on your game face.
