jagovino As I wrote the title for this post, I felt a little guilty- why would I take my family on a vacation during a global pandemic?? But then the sensible side of my brain reminds me that my family’s mental health is equally as important as our physical health. We have been cooped up since March. My kids have been on screens for longer than I would like to admit. They have missed out on Spring sports, sleep-away camp, end of school festivities, and frankly, we needed this vacation. We needed a change of scenery and a chance to get out of our house and reconnect with each other. I would be lying if I said I didn’t have second thoughts about taking my family away from our little quarantine bubble and into the unknown of another state, but I shut off the news, and my brain, and we decided to just go.
First of all, family vacations are never truly relaxing. Let’s be honest- packing your car full of crap you “think” you may need and listening to your kid’s fight for the entire car ride, does not sound like a day at the beach. But once you get to your destination and see the smiles on your kid’s faces as they jump into the waves at the beach and cuddle up next to you at the end of a busy day, you know you’ve made the right decision. We took all of the measures to ensure we were safe on our trip. We brought masks, gloves, and hand sanitizer. We made sure to bring all of our linens, towels, and paper goods to use in the house we rented. We used Lysol wipes on all surfaces when we first arrived at the beach house. We ordered Instacart before we arrived to get groceries delivered to us. We limited the amount of contact we had with anyone else- in fact, all we really did was go to the beach, which was surprisingly pretty empty, and hang at the pool in our rental. If we did need to go to the store or go out, we would send one person who would wear a mask (obviously) and be sure to wash their hands immediately when they returned. I will say, I was very happy with the amount of steps others were taking in the town we stayed, everyone wore a mask and every business I encountered was following protocols for social distancing.
The week flew by and my kids had a blast. It almost made us forget that we are in the midst of a global pandemic. I know I may get some negative backlash for going away with my family at this time, I get it. But as I have said through this entire process, everyone is going to make the right decisions for themselves and their family on what feels right to do. There is no right or wrong at this time. I know that going away with my family to the beach for a week and waking up to the sounds of the waves, watching my kid’s body surf and swim and have constant smiles on their faces, was enough for me to say we did the right thing. Who knows what is going to happen in the Fall and Winter as this virus continues to baffle all of us, but at least for one week I was able to feel somewhat normal again, and that in itself was enough for me.
