These Are My People...

When one vacations, focus shifts. No one utters phrases like, "Go in the other room for a bit, Mommy's trying to finish this job," or "Kids, please, please, please, quit asking Daddy questions right now, he's trying to study." Neither will be heard, "Hurry up kids! We are running so very late. LET'S GO!!!!"

On vacation, there is no late, there is no hurry up, no studying, no lesson planning. 

Instead the focus is on being a family in every geeky, cheesy, kooky, comfy sense of the word. 

On vacation YES is spoken liberally and knee-jerk NOs are kept to a bare minimum. 

On vacation, even outlandish requests are given fair consideration. 

On vacation, alarm clocks look like this...

Retreating from dailyness with all of its needing and wanting and tasks and stresses and duties and yes, even it's victories, forces the eye to focus on those who ride along beside, to relearn them, to re-revel in who they are and to dream about who they are becoming, to re-see them close up.

Very close. 

While battling dailyness it is possible, even likely, not to see, those who are quite literally at arm's length or even closer.

On vacation though...clarity,

...a clarity that whispers to my heart, 

"These...these are your people. 

The little ones, the growing ones, the grinning one. 

Appreciate them, 

study them,

 learn from them,

 thank God for them,

 hold them,

 cheer for them,

teach them,

 lean on them,

 steady them,

pray for them,

 laugh with them,

 grow with them,

 and love them...well."

{Part 1 of our vacation series here, Part 2 here}