A time to take a break,
Breathe in some fresh air
And to take a change of scenery.
To take stock,
Think with a clear head,
Take time.
Time for each other.
Time for yourself.
Time to make memories that will last a lifetime.
In family albums.
In picture frames.
In your heart and soul.
Somewhere new,
Or somewhere familiar,
It doesn't matter.
To somewhere sunny,
Or somewhere with snow,
You just want to go and get away from it all.
The 'where' is only part,
Of why we look forward,
To the day we depart on holiday.
It's the 'why' and the 'how' and the 'who',
That make holidays what they are,
And make us appreciate them all the more.
Appreciate our hard work,
Everything that's been,
And everything that's yet to come.
The changes in our family,
And how our children grow,
And how holidays change us too, for the better.
We look forward to this time,
Once a year, or more or less,
And it moves us on.
The chance to see new things,
Try new experiences,
And return home feeling like new.
A chance we would all take,
And grasp with both hands,
For us and our children.
I started writing this post as I would any other but I got a little swept up in the emotion of the subject and decided to go with the flow and write it as more of a poem.
For me, holidays are emotional, in a good way. They're something to look forward to and to look back on with fondness and longing and ever so slightly rose tinted glasses. Because holidays are stuck in time and act like signposts to key moments in your life. The details fade but the feelings, the sounds and smells, the tastes - they linger on in your memory and in fading photos kept safe on the shelf.
It doesn't matter where you go really, as long as you 'go', it's about who you're with and the quality time you spend together. That's what matters to me and how I would love to take Ethan on his first holiday, the three of us, together. Family.
Whether it was that time when you were eight years old and mum and dad took you to Whitley Bay and the car got broken into so Dad had to sleep in it overnight and then the beach was made of pebbles instead of sand.
Or whether it was when you went to Malta aged five and dressed as a belly dancer at the kids disco or when in Italy, you made a pen-friend with Benny from Germany, who you wrote to for months after you returned home.
Or perhaps the first girly holiday you went on with your three best friends to Prague, where you walked for hours, letting your feet find their way and talked long into the night.
Or the first holiday with your new boyfriend, to Tunisia, where you laughed at the cheesy entertainment at the hotel and posed for a photo, trying to look ever so cool and together, only to then be head-butted by a camel onto the sand seconds later.
Or your honeymoon, your first holiday as man and wife, to New York, a place you'd only dreamed of and seen in movies, where on your first night you couldn't go back to your hotel because the President of the United States of America was inconsiderate enough to be hosting an event for world leaders right across the street. And when you finally stopped for New York cheesecake somewhere near Times Square, you saw Bebe Neuwirth and were desperate to say hello. And where you and your new husband talked about what the future might hold.
The future is now here for us, in Ethan, and the chance to give him those memories he will carry in his heart for a lifetime, long after the sun tan fades, is something I will do anything to take. Holidays bring you together as a family and I look forward to watching my son grow wherever it is we will go.
This is my entry to become a #MarkWarnerMum next year. I hope you enjoyed reading it and I hope the Mark Warner team like it too - to win would be just amazing really, wouldn't it?
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