Reminiscing...

As a young girl, I remember the endless vacations when we drove for days to get nowhere special and do nothing… really… except spend “time” with each other. As the only girl and oldest of five children, these vacations did not rate as tops on my list of excitement.

Then, of course, there were the all day drives to God knows where to look at, well nothing really… except maybe caves or waterfalls or streams with dead leaves floating on them. What more could a fourteen year old ask for?

I can remember looking at my parents from the middle seat in our extended van squished next to the window by the baby seat containing my youngest brother thinking that I must have been switched at birth or something because I found absolutely nothing stimulating at all to do or see on those God-forsaken trips.

Recently I found myself lying in the middle of a workout room with several contemporaries covered in post-workout sweat discussing the stupidity of jumping around like an idiot to relieve the stress that we should have the good sense to take a vacation from… vacation??? Well, this lead to grown women regaling one another with stories of their favorite trips with glazed eyes, excitedly awaiting our own turn to share.

Some told of summers in Europe, springs skiing, semesters in South America or laying under the lifeguard stand in their new white bikini the year they lost 15 pounds in high school.

Then someone spoke in awe of stalactites and stalagmites; of glorious, glistening droplets of water caressing plants, rocks and foliage; of gold, honey and rust colored speckles on clear, crisp, cold water. As I heard myself speaking, I looked around and saw the envy on the faces of my three-evening-a-week friends… Envy? And was that regret I heard in my own voice? Did I feel that I had cheated my childhood self?

Finally we left and, as we all walked slowly to our cars, I heard twenty-odd grown women wish they had parents like mine… the kind you got when you were switched at birth or something… The kind who always lead you through hell to a glimpse of wonderful.