Family Getaways

Have you ever noticed how much you take things for granted until they change? My husband and I have twin sons. They have been ideal children. I know every parent feels that way about their children, but our twins really are remarkable. They are not identical twins so their looks and personalities are their own. They have achieved high grades in school, they excel in athletics and they are both involved in church and community activities. Raising them has been the high point of my life. Now they are going off to college.

Through the years we have done many family getaways to various parts of the country. We have taken pleasure trips as well as mission trips through our church. My husband and I decided that we should have another of our family getaways prior to our sons going off to college. We know that once they enter the college scene they will have less time to spend with the family. Both of our sons have jobs in the summer months so we decided that we should go on our trip during the Christmas vacation. We thought we would have the boys help decide where we would go on the trip.

I planned a meal and dug out the photographs that we had taken on past family getaways so that we could share the memories of the trips as we planned a new one. I had stopped at a travel agency and brought home brochures on some popular destinations. I thought it would be easier to look at brochures instead of all crowding around the computer screen. That evening we had spaghetti and meatballs and told the boys that we wanted to plan another of our family getaways. I was surprised when they both started making excuses about why we should wait and try to do something together in the summer rather than over the holiday break. I could not believe that they did not want to spend the time with us.

My son’s could tell that they had hurt our feelings. They went to their rooms and came back about an hour later and asked if they could talk with us. They explained that they loved our family getaways, but they had planned a cruise for my husband and me for the first week in January. They wanted to surprise us with the trip for Christmas as our Christmas present. They had saved money from their summer jobs to buy us the trip. We talked with the travel agent and were able to switch the week to the holiday week and we bought two more tickets. This is going to be our family vacation.