Have you ever considered how many family vacations you have left? If you have young kids you’re probably thinking you just want a vacation!
When your kids are toddlers vacations are difficult. They need a nap so it’s hard to go places for any length of time. Sand gets in their eyes, swim diaper, and food, which makes everyone miserable. If you can scrape up the money and energy for a vacation it’s usually spent visiting family.
But before you know it your family has moved beyond diapers and a nap every 2 hours. Now you can begin to dream about exploring this beautiful world God has given us.
Two years ago I started that dreaming stage and came to a startling realization…I only had 6 family vacations left!!!
I was caught off guard because for years my calculation was based on my youngest child’s age and not my oldest. My faulty logic gave me more time than what I really had.
Depending on how young your kids are you can make the same mistake. It’s easy to think you have an infinite number of vacations ahead of you, but you don’t. I made my mistake by wanting to make sure everyone was old enough to remember the vacations. So I kept looking at our youngest waiting for him to get a little older. By the time he was ready that left us with only 6 vacations with our oldest!
How many do you have left?
To find out how many family vacations you have left subtract your oldest child’s age from 18 and you’ll get your answer.
18 – Oldest Child’s Age = Family Vacations Left
Anything over that number is gravy. You might get lucky and get one or two extra but don’t count on it. They may want to do an internship, study abroad, or need to work.
Your vacations and family moments are ones you will carry with you forever. You will replay those memories when your house is clean and quiet. It’s a season you can never repeat. How you spend those 18 years with your kids will determine what the rest of your life will be like with them. Those short years disproportionately affect the rest. Heavy, I know. Spend them wisely and you’ll see your kids (and grandkids) often. It’s almost impossible to make up for time lost in this season.
I’m not trying to fill you with anxiety, I’m trying to help you see something that can get lost in trying to get ahead in your career, pay bills, finish homework, save for retirement, and sports every weekend. Your time living as a family is limited. (Read that again.)
We know what the balance in our checking account is but we don’t know the balance of time we have as a family. Sure you’ll always be family, but you won’t always live as a family.
Your time is far more valuable in this season than money. All the money in the world can’t turn back time and regain these precious moments. Buy memories instead of stuff.
What are some of the things you always imagined you would do with your kids “one day”? Did you dream of visiting the Grand Canyon? Hiking the Appalachian Trail? Touring Europe? Going to Disney? Sitting behind home plate at a Yankees game? How much time do you have left to make it happen? Start planning.
Maybe you’re reading this and thinking, “I can’t afford to do a single thing you listed. I can’t afford to go anywhere!”
I know a guy who felt the same way until he sold his boat, camper, and sports car. He chose to buy memories instead of things. Where might you be spending money that you could cut back?
Other families spend thousands of dollars on sports travel teams that take them away multiple weekends a year. I’m sure it teaches teamwork, but how many seasons do they have to play to get that lesson?
Wouldn’t you like to have some other family memories to hang on your wall? Or maybe you are happy with things just the way they are. All I’m asking you to do is to think about the limited amount of time you have to make meaningful FAMILY memories. Memories that involve everyone together.
Life comes down to choices and trade offs. No one can do it all and have it all…the nice home, car, healthy marriage, successful career, club sports, sharp kids, deep spiritual life… You’ve got to decide what’s most important based on your ultimate goals. For me I want kids who love Jesus, His church, and me.
One day your kids are going to be gone and you’re going to want some memories to hold on to. You’re going to need some to hold on to. You’re making them now. You’re making the photos that will hang on your wall.
Some of my favorite photos are of trips that didn’t cost a dime. Fishing trips to a local farm pond. Trips to the creek that runs by our house where we play and skip rocks. It doesn’t have to be expensive to count.
No matter where you want your memories just make sure they happen. Your prized photo from this short season will not be a picture of you behind your desk.
The best way to get started filling your picture frames is to make sure you take all of your vacation time every year. You do take all of your vacation right?
Remember we aren’t guaranteed another year of life or health. Take all of the time off you have coming. It’s paid leave! What are you saving it for? You only have ___ family vacations left!!!
A word of caution! Vacations aren’t a panacea to fix everything. You still need regular Sabbaths of rest and daily time with each loved one. I’m not saying quality over quantity. Quantity time is still the gold standard. What I’m saying is vacations are your Thanksgiving Feast. You don’t put all of your nutritional requirements in one meal and you shouldn’t put all of your relational investments into one trip either.
Imagine your stress level decreasing. Imagine your relational pains healing. All because you took frequent times to rest, reconnect and decompress. It’s one of the most important investments in the future you’ll ever make. Fill out your vacation request form today and start planning.
