VACATIONS
Many years ago, when our family was much younger, we went to London one summer. We wanted to do all the typical tourist things and see everything that people must see in London. That meant a lot of planning, ensuring that everyone was fed and bathed early in the morning so that we did not have a single moment to waste. It was like a well planned military drill and of course, that needed constant reminders. They were intended to be gentle reminders but I soon became a sergeant, shouting orders at my soldiers preparing for battle! I wanted to be the first in the line at Madame Tussauds, avoid the tourist rush at the Tower of London, catch the Tube before the office rush started and generally, be everywhere before things got too crowded.
The boys were quite young then, and, now, when I ask them about it, they say they can’t remember much and that it wasn’t fair to take them when they were kids as they have no recollection of that trip. I’m sure their inability to remember much of that vacation can be answered by reading a chapter on “repressed memories” in any psychology book!
A couple of months ago, my husband and I took a two week trip to London. It was not at all like our last holiday. Obviously, we were older, the children were not with us and our priorities were different. We weren’t there as tourists. We were there to relax, enjoy ourselves and just chill! There was one more thing that changed this holiday for us. I lost my voice! It started off with a bad cough and before I knew it, I found that the best way I could express myself was by whispering, as any attempts to speak louder, resulted in a series of croaks. There was no way I was going to see a doctor because I was convinced that I would be quarantined for H1N1 and that would be the end of our long awaited break!
So, I took my cough medicines, used my inhalers and rested my voice. There was nothing else that was wrong with me. I didn’t feel ill. I was just a very quiet person on holiday! And what an interesting holiday it was!
Why couldn’t I be like this on our first holiday, I asked myself. What was the need to hurry, shout and pulverize everyone into action? Why did I want everyone to see everything possible, experience whatever there was to offer and do whatever it took to be the ideal sightseeing tourist? Wouldn’t it have been a better holiday if we’d woken up at our own pace, did whatever we felt like, instead of what had been planned for the day, not have visited historical landmarks like the Big Ben, The Tower of London, and avoided the shopping trips to Oxford Street, Hamleys or Harrods?
The answer comes to me when I think about life and its stages. Our job as parents is to make sure that our children experience everything we can afford to show them. We don’t want them to miss out any opportunity to see what the world has to offer to them. We hope that they can absorb the taste, smell and fabric of the world and use the memories of past vacations to create their own ideal holidays and obviously, ideal lives as well! And if they cannot recall the entire vacation, the photographs and videos taken at every moment, will surely help!
Posted : 4 September 2009
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