The Robbed Vacation
Key Insights
Positivity is great, but sometimes things are so miserable you just have to admit that
On those occasions, we need to take care of ourselves first
After our 18-month-old had recovered from her stomach bug, it was my turn. We were on day 3 of what was supposed to be our vacation. At 9 am, I had a work call on a student matter that I couldn’t postpone until after my vacation. At the end of that meeting, I stayed on with a colleague for a few minutes. She asked me if everything was alright. Because I looked a little off. I told her about the stomach bug being passed on from my husband to our little one, and that I was starting to feel queasy as well.
After the meeting, I managed to get up to the mountain, even though it was smoky because of the forest fires. We really wanted to do our 2k hike in the area at the top of the mountain. And so we did. Even though I had to run into the restaurant at the top for Diet Cokes to ease my growing nausea. Fortunately, our little one stayed awake during the bike ride back home, and she took a proper nap (meaning I could as well). This was certainly a day to count each win, however small.
By the evening, there was no denying that the bug had found a way to my stomach as well. Unfortunately, my little one had developed a strong mommy preference in the past week. The timing could have been better, also of the unusual fight she put up to go to sleep. It took 1.5 hours to get her down, a true record. While singing lullabies and thinking of what could be wrong with her, I was trying not to vomit over her.
On Tuesday morning, we decided to give up on this vacation. We were all miserable, and we admitted to ourselves that there was no point in searching for a silver lining. We were going to drive home during nap time. It was going to rain for the next few days (great for the forest fires!), and with my lack of energy and my daughter’s clinginess, I did not foresee a very successful time up here.
The drive home was perfectly fitting with the vacation-gone-sour mode we were already in. Another record of two hours of fussiness, crying, or restlessness. I sat on the backseat beside our daughter and sang and sang until I half-fell asleep despite her protests. The next morning, we dropped her off at daycare at 8 am. She was happy as a clam as she walked over to her friends. My husband and I admitted that it was the first time we had ever been thrilled to get an 8-hour reprieve.
My husband did chores around the house and announced proudly that he had already crossed off three items from his to-do list. I tried to stay busy with email and an online course to get the hang of WordPress, but eventually caved and rested on the couch. In the afternoon, we received pictures of our daughter dancing at the daycare’s music lesson. We made the right decision. Everyone was happy now that this vacation had ended.