Away from Home
Vacation. I love going on vacation. New places or old, it makes no difference. There are only two things I don’t enjoy about it. The week leading up to the trip, and the first couple of days of the vacation.
The week leading up to the vacation is a time of anxiety and guilt for me. I have a dog that I love very much. Lola is a deer-head Chihuahua. She is my shadow. If I am somewhere in my house, she is right there with me.There is absolutely no doubting that. She lives and breathes her mummy.
She is under my desk on the bed I got her, so that she can be comfortable. I spend a full day at my desk writing, and she never leaves my side. It is a good thing that I have her, because having her there is a reminder that I need to get up and take breaks here and there. She needs to go out, and that means I have to take her downstairs and out to the yard. If I did not have her there, with needs, I would never look up from the computer. I get tunnel vision and stay focused without thinking about the time. That is good and bad. Either way, it’s how I roll.
Anyway, Lola and I are a team. She goes where I go, sleeps with me at night, glued to my back, and she is the first sunshine I see in the morning. She is a happy and loved dog, and you can tell. Whenever I speak to her, she goes crazy with joy. The tail starts wagging, the whole butt along with it, and her overly joyful bouncing around is infectious. One day she will destroy me. She will rip my heart out, my soul, and I will never be the same without her. My guilt stems from leaving her.
We can’t usually take her with us on vacation. She does not enjoy car travel much, even on brief trips to the vet, the groomer, or friends’ homes. Flying would be a nightmare for her, and there is no way I would put her in cargo, so she would need her own seat next to me on the plane. Either way, she would tremble fiercely the entire time. I am not really suer what is so upsetting to her. Is it the travel itself, or the fear of the unknown? She is a homebody, like her mother. I don’t enjoy going away from our sanctuary as well.
The week before we leave, I grieve for her. I suffer from the guilt of having abandoned her. That is for certain, what she probably thinks in her head when we drop her off at our friend’s house for the time we are gone. Don’t get me wrong, I know that it’s irrational.
Our friends love her, and I am absolutely certain they will spoil her as much as we do. They also have a little dog. The two of them get along very well and enjoy each other.
They also have cats, which is a bonus. She loves playing with any other animal she can. So why do I feel this way every time? Because I understand the feeling of abandonment. I dislike it and don't want her or anyone else to feel the reality of abandonment. So this is my mindset the entire week leading up to our departure.
The second thing I dislike about vacations is the first day or two. Setting up, getting groceries, and unpacking are a bother. It feels like work. We usually rent a house when we go on trips, and that means we cook. With cooking comes food shopping; a fate worse than death. It is only then that the vacation begins. I feel like those first two days are always wasted.
All too soon, we will have to go back home. That part I enjoy. I love going home. It is the most exciting moment when we go to pick up our baby, and she becomes overjoyed at the sight of us. There is a certain level of whimpering and maybe even a little overexcited bladder mishap. It is all good. She loves us and she shows us how much.
This is day one of our vacation, and today I get to do the ugly. Shop to stock the house with food for the week. It’s my son’s house, and it has most things, but he has given me a laundry list of meals he wants me to make for him and freeze, so he can enjoy them after we leave. He misses home and Mom’s cooking. That makes me smile, even though it will mean a lot of work for me for a couple of days. It’s a labor of love for me though, like writing. So, I’ll do it and then get to having some relaxing fun.
Vacation is at hand.
#family #vacations #travel #colorado
