I’m writing this on a striped couch inside a great room of an beach house. The background noise includes the sound of the surf hitting the beach and a ceiling fan whirring overhead, two hallmarks of a summer vacation. But the sound I’m most grateful for right now is the singing soundtrack of a children’s DVD.
Family vacations are a wonderful thing, and I’m so happy to be on this one with my extended family. It is great to get away from home and experience a different kind of life, sans 9 to 5 grind. And yet, there is something about a vacation that brings a parent a different kind of work. So here we are, late in the afternoon of our first full day away, with a They Might Be Giants DVD teaching us all about the ABCs.
While it’s not the sound of silence, it is the sound of harmony between our two young children and the adults who are spending their managing them. After a day and half listening to a 3 ½-year-old and a 15-month-old haggle over the limited supply of books and toys that made the long trip south, the peace that has settled over the room since my wise husband had the revelation to pop in a DVD is nothing short of blissful. Dad and son are happily vegging on the couch while my daughter has decided to hop up and dance and clap in her new tutu.
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I’m not saying that the plan is to spend the rest of the week in front of the TV while the beautiful beach awaits us. But I am going to look forward to this daily parental moment of Zen, a vacation within the vacation.
