Vacations
Vacations are hard. A lot of work to make happen, filled with joy and stress throughout, and the ending which hangs heavy. Another one has come to an end in our family and I'm left with a familiar poignant ache, mourning the loss for my children as well as for myself.
It's hard to handle how sharp endings are, the finality of it all. I've spent 5 months looking forward to this trip, planning for it with my wife, talking it up with my kids, and now in the blink of an eye it's all over? As soon as it started it's done? It feels unfair. It goes no faster than life at home, and yet I don't spend months anticipating doing the exact same stuff i've been doing the rest of the time.
I hope they look back on these trips with as much fondness as I did as a kid. Spending time with cousins who live far away, going to the beach, eating treats night and day, falling asleep in my arms at a restaurant because they played too hard...
So much of life is spent looking back. I wish it didn't fade as we moved farther away.