The Getaway Plan
August 12, 2009 by Sheila
By the time you read this, I’ll be back, but right now my family is preparing to go camping. The girls are collecting the towels, bathing suits, and bug repellent, my husband is filling the coolers, and me? I’m dusting my bedroom.
If that doesn’t make sense to you, it’s because you are missing the crucial nesting gene. I have one, which may surprise most who know me, because it only manifests itself when we are preparing to leave.
On a normal day I may be perfectly content living in a home with stacks of unopened mail scattered around the dining room, dust bunnies plotting a takeover of my house under my bed, and unidentifiable contents in Tupperware containers lurking near the back of my fridge.
But when we are leaving these things are absolutely out of bounds, as anyone with any self-respect would agree. Unfortunately, my husband and my children do not share the gene, and so they have the gall to become frustrated with me, and to express this frustration in unpleasant ways when they think that I am letting them “do all the work” of packing and “holding us up” and “wasting time” instead of actually contributing to the camping cause.
Mysteriously, they fail to see how my actions contribute to a holiday. After all, what’s a holiday if you have to come home to a messy house? So as I’m collecting our clothes, I notice the dust more than I do on normal days. Or when I’m piling suitcases in the hallway I notice the floors could really use a mopping. Don’t even get me started on what happens when I go through the fridge to figure out what we need in the coolers.
By the time we actually exit our premises, then, our house is in tip top shape. And yet instead of lauding me for this spurt of high energy cleaning action, my family feels resentment because they want to “get going”. Honestly.
My husband even had the gall to inform me that one day he is going to announce a magnificent, surprise holiday, just so that I would clean the house. Then, with all the suitcases packed and all the floors sparkly, he would tell me that we’re going to stay home, because it’s so nice to live in now.
I was not impressed.
Cleaning, though, is not all I do when we’re preparing to depart. I also have that compulsion to attend to all the errands I’ve been nonchalantly ignoring. I may have decided they’re not urgent for three or four weeks running, but when we’re about to leave the house for five days, they become a priority. And since I’m running to the bank, why not check out the sales at some of my favorite stores, too?
Then, of course, there’s the email I must answer, and the thank you notes I must write leftover from business engagements a few months ago. In short, whenever we go on vacation, my to-do list magically gets to-done.
Naturally this makes vacation preparedness a very stressful activity, and one might wonder if getaways were even worth it. But I know the answer to that one. It’s found in sitting around a fire, eating s’mores and not caring if you get marshmallow on your sweatshirt. It’s found in playing cards inside the camper when it rains. It’s found in getting up one morning and reading an entire novel just because you can. It’s found in having time to walk, hand in hand, with my husband for hours because there’s nothing else to do. Vacations are bliss. And I’m just glad that, thanks to me, coming home isn’t so bad, either.
Sheila blogs daily at To Love, Honor and Vacuum. And you won’t want to miss her podcasts! She homeschools her two daughters, writes, speaks, and knits. Preferably all at the same time.
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Tara on Wed, 12th Aug 2009 8:10 am
Sheila, I thought I was alone in having this nesting gene. I do the exact same thing when we leave! Thank you for sharing.
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Serene in Singapore on Thu, 13th Aug 2009 1:50 am
I am in there with you! Sometimes I do wonder if it is worth it since no one else in the family bothers. But I certianly like to come home to a clean and tidy house
Serene in Singapore´s last blog ..Potty Training
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Joelle on Thu, 13th Aug 2009 8:21 am
I do the same thing as well; how interesting! Sheila, I really appreciated your talk at the conference. Thanks a lot for the words of encouragements and wisdom.
Joelle´s last blog ..Homeschool Planning Con’t
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Tammy ~@~ on Fri, 14th Aug 2009 12:23 pm
Sheila, I loved this! Yes, I have contracted a big of this nesting gene, too, but mine manifests itself differently. I first have to help get everything prepared for the getaway and THEN I want to take care of cleaning the house! Drives my family crazy and I usually don’t get done everything I want to get done because they are dragging me out the door yelling, “LET’S GO NOW, MOM!” LOL!
Blessings,
Tammy ~@~
Tammy ~@~´s last blog ..un-lost
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Holly on Sun, 16th Aug 2009 10:40 am
WOW-I thought I was some strange oddball-I am exactly like this. I also get a burst of touching up the house when everyone else walks out the door. My dh is always beeping the horn for me to get going.
And I like to be the first one back in the house to see how nice it looks before all the unpacking explodes everywhere. LOL Holly
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Lisa on Mon, 17th Aug 2009 12:52 am
Ditto! Thought I was alone in annoying my family in this way! It’s somewhat the same when I bake (kitchen needs to be clean and in order!) Or decorate or do any deep cleaning – I find myself wasting a long while doing regular chores and cleaning before I can start on the project at hand! I annoy myself with this tendancy at times!
Lisa´s last blog ..Enjoying the new home and getting ready for school to start!
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Debbie on Mon, 17th Aug 2009 11:09 pm
This has me LOL. It is so me! I kept thinking the same thing as I listened to you during the conference. And I felt less guilty that I still have a messy junk drawer and have to go to my mom’s house for the refreshing sense of order it gives me.
And Tammy, like you, I have to get everything prepared for the getaway AND clean the house, with the result that I am ready to sleep for the entire 18 hour car ride! Fortunately, my dh prefers to do all the driving.
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