Post-holiday post with a little less screaming, not that it’s entirely scream-free
So we’re on the airplane flying back from Roses via Girona. We are the lucky pair with an empy middle seat between us, so Adam has plenty of space for playing with his Mega-Blocks and generally stomping around. Magda and I are having a conversation along these lines: if you’re not unhappy to be headed home at the end of your vacation, does that mean that you’re doing something right with your everyday life or something wrong with your holidays?
It would seem that the latter wasn’t it. While as imperfect as even the best and most deeply anticipated things in life can be, our time away was pretty great on most scales.
Pretty damn great.
Crab salad was eaten, as were grilled gambas in their millions and tiny baby squids. Shoes, wristwatches, and even proper clothes went unworn. Sandcastles were erected and enthusiastically razed, beautiful blue-green soothing Mediterranean water was bobbed upon. Skins were tanned modestly without burning or peeling. Swimmy-diapers were tolerated, more or less, sand-packed or not. Crappy crap in beachfront markets was mocked, tapas bars browsed, sexy clogs of black Spanish leather purchased, as was the most expensive and fabulous Barcelona souvenir ever. Pyrenees were driven up and admired, ducks were consumed, dolmens sought. Peaceful med views from balconies were deeply appreciated, often with wine. These are the things of a summer vacation.
Babies even slept long and late.
Unfortunately, also among the things of vacation, one encounters some howling. Taking Adam out of his context is always more difficult than we remember from the last time we tried it. Not difficult for him, but for us. Which then translates into hard for him, and then you have a vicious circle. We have let his routine become so ingrained that when we deviate from it there is hell to pay and no pitch hot. It’s hard to control him when we aren’t in our efficient little cocoon of babyproofing, Thomas-toys, and 19:50 bathtime. Maybe that’s why we weren’t sad to head home, where in our absence the temperature had dropped a full ten degrees
At least for a little while.
