“A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it in.”  - Robert Orben

I love vacation!  One week of relaxation and fun in the sun.  A short time to forget about all of the day-to-day stresses and worries that can plague you back in the real world. 

Have you ever noticed that what you really need a vacation from is the week prior to vacation?  That is the week that you are trying to finish all of your activities normally planned for the next week, you know the one during which you will be on vacation.  Not only do most of us have 40+ hours a week spent at a monotonous job, but we are hit with overtime as we run around like Sonic the Hedgehog attempting to complete all the additional tasks. 

Well, after 10 days at my family’s summer home on a lake in Central Missouri I am ready to tackle the working world again.  This year was especially exciting for me since it was the first time my, now 8-month-old, daughter would visit my childhood hang out, the “Zarks”, as I so fondly call them.  I can still remember this moment: When I was two, we were preparing for the long drive home after spending the summer splashing and playing in the water and as we loaded into the car, I firmly planted my butt on the front porch and proclaimed to my parents, “I Don’t Want to Leave the Zarks!”  I was hoping my daughter would follow in my footsteps this year and tell me the same, but rather she just stuck her toungue out and gave me a cool saliva shower. Oh well, maybe next year.

This vacation was special in that I shared with my daughter my favorite place in the world, other than the top of a mountain in a blaring snowstorm and 3 feet of fresh powder between me and the base of the mountain, and she seems to share the same passion for it as her mother and I.  I look forward to taking her back again as she grows.