I have a getaway coming up in less than a week. It's an annual vacation that I spend with my 3 sisters and our respective families. We trek to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. My sisters and I grew up spending summer vacations in Rehoboth Beach. Our grandparents first ventured there in the early 1970s, and my parents soon followed behind.
I am grateful for this vacation on so many levels.
We started this annual tradition back in 2007. It was to be a family vacation with both of my parents, my sisters, and our families. But in the spring of 2007, my mother fell ill and passed away in July, just a few short weeks away from our first family gathering in ages.
As much as we didn't want to spend the vacation without my mom, we also needed this vacation more than anything else. And so in August 2007, we packed up our cars and headed to Rehoboth Beach.
The following year we planned another vacation for August 2008. This time, it was my father who passed away unexpectedly just 3 weeks before our vacation. It seemed that our family vacations were doomed.
It was clear that these vacations, in the absence of my mother and father, needed to be a time to celebrate our family. They have become a symbol for how fragile life can be. They are a reminder that people cannot be replaced.
This year will be our 7th family vacation. And we are looking forward to being together and to celebrating our parents who made all of this possible. I know they'd be proud of us for continuing this tradition and for making our time together a priority.
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