Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Weekend Getaway

I was a young mother with four young children. They were all in school but I worked while they learned. Then I had all the things people do when school and work hours end. Cooking supper, supervising the children, and straightening the house.I needed a vacation!

I began to squirrel money away. An extra couple of dollars here and an extra bit of change there. It really does not take long. I did not want to deduct money from any family funds because this was a strictly selfish thing.

I then told my husband what I intended to do. I told him that I was taking a weekend for myself. If he wanted to come along he was welcome. Of course he wanted to come... he said.

I told him to pick a weekend that would fit in with his schedule. He did. It was about a month in the future.

I asked my parents if they would keep the kids for the weekend. Of course they would. My vacation was becoming a reality.

It was not going to be anything expensive. I just needed to get away and enjoy some peace and quiet. I made a reservation at a hotel that was not too far away but not too close to home. I would be doing no cooking or cleaning or taking care of anybody else.

The weekend drew near. I reminded my husband to make sure he had his business in order so he would be free that weekend.

He tried to stall and said maybe we could do it another time.  I told him that of course we could but I was going that weekend whether he went or not. It was my weekend. He finally realized that I was going so he got ready too.

So I packed a bag, dropped the kids off at my parents' house, and picked up my husband. Off we went to the hotel.

The room was nice and clean with two big double beds. This was a weekend for relaxation, not a second honeymoon. We each took a bed and relaxed while we watched TV.

After a nice shower with no children screaming that they needed something from me I crawled into bed to watch television. I promptly fell asleep.

I slept late the next day. How nice. My husband was still sleeping soundly as I ordered room service. It is so nice to have someone bring breakfast. I sipped on my tea for a good while after my food was gone.

We simply lounged on our beds watching television with no interruptions. The problem is that there is only so much to do in a hotel room. We were both getting a little antsy. We needed to get out for a while.

We went to the mall. This was to be an inexpensive weekend so I had not planned for shopping. We window shopped and made wish lists.

My husband spent a lot of time looking at riding lawn equipment. I guess it took him back to days on the farm.

I looked at pretty things. Most of them were impractical and I knew I would never own any of them.

We stopped at a little restaurant in the mall for our evening meal. We enjoyed the food and talked about nothing at all. Very nice.

We considered seeing a movie. There was nothing showing that we wanted to see. We went back to the hotel.

The television was waiting for us. We watched an old movie or three and fell asleep.

The next morning we again ordered breakfast from room service and lounged in the room. It was Sunday and my weekend was coming to a close.

We went and picked up the children. We visited with my family for a while then went home. Real life started all over.

But I was content again. I loved my family and enjoyed my children. I just needed to relax and recharge which I did.

Now this may sound like an extremely boring little vacation to many. And it was. It was exactly what I needed. Just a little time to myself without knowing that with the next breath I had other obligations. I was satisfied.


7 comments:

  1. Hi Emma. I have been catching up with your blog. Enjoying your writing. Sorry I'm not around much at the moment.

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    1. I always enjoy hearing from you, John. I know you are changing some things in your life right now and that can be time consuming. I hope you enjoyed what I have written.

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  2. Dear Emma,
    I admire you that you followed your plans sternly:Your husband sensed your determination (as people most often do if one reaaly means it) - and I think it was great that he then joined in. Having fur children and a job must be tough, and rewarding of course.
    I think one knows exactly what one needs when one listens inside oneself: and that you needed rest and pampering and sort of quietude is understandable. One can only give to others when the batteries are recharged - and that was the ideal week-end for it.

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    1. Sorry: "really/ four children" - I tried to spell right, but it is late this evening in Germany.

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    2. It was one of those times I needed to stand firm. All I wanted was some rest.

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  3. It doesn't matter where or how you spent your getaway time, Emma, but that you relaxed and rested which seemed to be the case here. Good for you for sticking to the plan even if your husband seemed like he would bail out at the last minute and glad he went along too.
    Sorry for not being up to date on reading posts, we have a lot going on now and will be sending yiu a separate email in a few days to fill you in.

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    1. Well thank you for taking the time to comment. I can see that people understand that vacation does not need to be long or expensive. Then purpose is to relax.

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