Vacation with ... friends

Family vacations are great. They're the usual means of travelling, relaxing, and savoring the experiences of vacation. But there's certainly times when family vacations become... tiresome? Sometimes, the personalities with whom I spend most of my waking moments with begin to grate on me. Or there are times when I suddenly realize, my child would really rather be with friends than with family. Or times when just Bill and I would like to get away together sans les enfants. Children grow up, and away, and begin to experience their lives, including vacations, away from parents and siblings. There are times when, gasp, I'd really just rather be by myself, thankyouverymuch.

I don't remember exactly when the first one was, but for the past 6-7 years, Bill and I have begun taking separate vacations, in addition to the ones we take as a family or as a couple. He goes to the beach for a long weekend. I fly off to visit my internet friends. He goes with his best buddies to Utah to ski. I go away for a week of silence at a Jesuit retreat center. He goes off to participate in one of his new passions, adventure racing. And so this easy give and take of individual vacation time has slowly become a healthy part of our life landscape. This year, I thought I'd love to have a week at the beach with just girlfriends....to provide a place at the beach house for my buds to chill together, new and old, ones who live near and ones who live away. So I asked a few close friends to invite one of THEIR close friends, and join me.

And so they've come. So far it's been perfect. We've walked the beach, drunk margueritas, played games, practiced yoga, listened to one share a chapter of a book she's writing, napped in the sun, drunk wine, cooked and cleaned up (no one has to be asked! no one says, "But it's HER turn to take out the trash!"), gone out to eat, petted the dog, drunk tea, laughed ourselves silly, eaten donut holes and ice cream and chocolate, drunk coffee, surfed the web, sketched, made monoprints, worn pajamas all day, sudokued, laughed, drunk whiskey sours, watched a movie and American Idol... In a word we've had fun. And this from people whose only commonality is that they know me or someone who knows me!

In what's shaping up for me to be multiple vacations, there is an ebb and flow here: someone comes, someone leaves, several stay. It's a changing landscape with enough stability of guests to maintain continuity, and enough rotation of fresh faces to keep things interesting. Today Kathy and Judy will leave, but three others will come. My old friend from elementary school is here, alongside an artist friend I just met this past year. I'm anticipating the ones who are coming (5 more), I'm sorry for the ones who couldn't make it, and I'll be sorry to see the last friend leave. And I think, by then, I'll be ready to go home, meld back into the familiar rhythms, and embrace marriage, family, and real life.

It's been a great event to mark my 45 years in the galaxy.