5 Benefits of Multi-Generational Travel #travel

Paula — Tue, 12 Apr 2016 04:58:26 +0000

Listen to me closely. If you are in your 30s and 40s and thinking why on earth would I want to take my children’s grandparents along on a trip with us, there are a few things you need to know about multi-generational travel. Both sets of our parents have passed away and I wish more than anything that we had had the time and money to include them on our big annual trips together to see the world. My husband and I both always managed to go to the cottage together with our respective families and that was one sort of multi-generational travel experience that will stick with us forever. I don’t live my life with regrets slowing me down. But I do wish we had the chance to share more travel experiences together as a large extended family. [tweetthis]Don’t wish that you did this when it is too late. #travel[/tweetthis] Multi-generational travel is a unique way to make lifelong family memories. Just imagine watching a sunset in Florida with the grandparents, parents, and grand kids, or seeing the northern lights with three or four generations of family members. Whale watching together, or swimming with dolphins together? All of these experiences could deepen everyone’s relationships as a family and that’s a huge benefit to exploring multi-generational travel. [tweetthis]There are several reasons multi-generational #travel is something you should do.[/tweetthis] Why Multi-Generational Travel is Great There are several reasons that multi-generational travel is something you should do if at all possible. Unique Memories Sure, you can have memories of going to Disney World or seeing Washington, D.C. or road tripping to almost anywhere. How much more amazing could those memories be if you recalled that both your mother AND grandmother kept hounding your father to stop and ask for directions? Alright maybe not the best example to get Dad on board with the idea of travelling together. But, maybe your parents took the kids one evening and let them sleepover in their room. Or maybe you held Nana’s hand while she walked with you on a beach neither of you had ever been to before. Maybe you recall that really intense conversation about sea turtles that you shared with grandpa while walking to the beach in Puerto Vallarta one night in November. That’s what multi-generational travel can do. Family Bonding We all naturally bond with our family members, but it can sometimes be hard for kids to bond with their grandparents on more than one level because of a lack of common experiences and even lack of time, or geography. Multi-generational trips give both young and old family members experiences that they can share together and bond in a way that most grandparents and grandchildren can’t. Closeness Closeness and bonding are two sides of the same coin. When families bond over the unique experiences afforded with multi-generational travel, they develop a certain closeness that might not otherwise be had. It brings a closeness fostered by shared experiences in addition to blood ties. Awakening Wonder Of course, children have no shortage of wonder over new things, but sometimes older relatives do too. It can feel like they’ve seen everything and done everything there is to do. Nothing keeps you young at heart like a healthy sense of wonder, and multi-generational travel can awaken that in an older adult, especially when they experience the same things that are causing their grandchildren to stare in slack jawed amazement. A Final Adventure I know that sounds a bit macabre, but hear me out. Chances are that your parents will not outlive you or your children. Wouldn’t it be an amazing adventure to experience all the magic and wonder of travel with three generations of family? That’s the kind of memory that will resonate with you, the grandparents, and the kids long after grandparents are gone. Multi-Generational Travel is More Than Numbers Multi-generational travel is more than just an age range of people going to the same destination. Multi-generational travel is a chance to take family bonding to an entirely new level. Instead of grandparents saying, “When I was your age”, they’ll be saying, “I never saw this when I was your age.” Multi-generational travel is a way for extended family members to connect in a way that not many families can. If you have the time, and your parents are healthy enough for it, I encourage you to look into multi-generational travel. You’ll make the most unique memories that will last several lifetimes.

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But I Am Not Done with You Yet

Paula — Sun, 05 May 2013 14:27:00 +0000

In the end, you think about the many times she danced through the living room holding the cat, with those tiny cat antlers it used to hate. The times she dressed at the vanity in her room draping jewelry on and your eight-year-old eyes thought it was magic. You dreamed she was beautiful and then wished years away so you could grow fast forward. You asked her to twirl. She did and spun you around. She held your hand and said I love you and then she gave you a kiss before heading off to the dance with a friend. The grief fills you with an overwhelming sad stone in your chest you think you may drown in your tears. You miss her even before she is gone and then you hope a moment and you recall that she said just last night: “You are the best daughter. I could never ask for a better daughter. You have been so good to me. I am sorry I have been so much trouble.” You whisper: “You were never any trouble. You are the best Mom I could ever ask for and I love you,” and what you meant to say when all those nurses were crowded round with tubes and masks and questions was: “I would pick you every time and I remember every lesson you ever taught me, every time I brought home an A and you praised it, every byline you were so proud of when you read my name. I forget the arguments. I forget how mad you were last month when I forgot to call. You hope you showed enough kindness and love and made the right choices for her at the end when she asked you to be the adult, take over for awhile if I cannot get better and speak. You wish the world had bent for her, opened up at her feet, offered her rose petals every time she walked down the hall to dinner in her retirement home. She was kind and caring and good. She built kids. She moulded brains and bodies and grade two spirits and showed them a world of possible pathways. She took their hands and coached them down this one, or that, depending on their jewels. And she had the strongest heart that ever beat. You remember your heart grew just under hers and you start to weep again. When did it start to function independent of hers? At birth? Nearing death? Did it ever? Little Losses You think then of the little losses mounting up. The grandmas now all gone. Your children will never do the things they planned with grandma. You remember the first time you made her Grandma. She never minded that name. In fact she loved it, embraced it, shook it, made it an excuse to shop weekly bringing grand-daughters new treasures. T-shirt here. Skirt there. So many pretty dresses, hard to resist. Picture perfect the first time she met her first grand-daughter and she held her as if she were you again. She looked at her with awe, instant fully born love that never changed. The first car grandma promised to first grand-daughter, the moment she would come and see her grand-daughter graduate from high school. The times your baby said: “when I am a bit older I will walk to grandma’s retirement home after school and help her. “You wish it so hard for your kids that you are that eight-year-old wide-eyed girl again. You wish with eyes closed and pray to a God you haven’t spoken to in years because, why? Well, because she believed he is there. Maybe, you think, this will help. You lose bits of future and it is now a different shape, a chair with three legs. You see someone at emergency looking like death is near and they are passing and then two hours later that woman gets up and walks away with her daughter smiling. You think this is some cruel joke. Two weeks ago your Mom looked better than her. She was all dressed up, surely she has more to give. How is this possible? Who chooses? Why? Anger courses through your veins. You feel ashamed because she taught you better than that. Even still. There were days you were sick and she came by Greyhound, then city bus to hospital. You inhaled her before she was even in the room. You knew the sound of each footfall. These were hers, even and soft, determined. Clack, clack, clack, clack. Days ago they were a shuffle. Days ago you held her elbow in the rain and watched Stars on Ice and you wonder if she knew then. This is the last time I will be here. But I am not done with you yet. Was it Good Enough? You think of every last time, hold it in your hand and turn it around: was that the last? was it good enough? was I harsh? Did I give her a good hug before I left? Maybe, but you don’t think so because she was coughing that day and you didn’t want a cold. You cry again and beat yourself with should haves, if onlys. You see futures dance away. Then you lift up one more pearl: the time we flew to Florida together, mother and daughter and ate clams and crocodile and laughed drinking vodka. It wasn’t perfect but it was ours. I was your daughter. When I was a baby you played Hide and Seek and I learned you were there even when I could not see you. I think maybe death is a bit like that. But the stone is back hard in your chest. You breathe each memory so hard it hurts. But I am not done with you yet.

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5 Benefits of Multi-Generational Travel #travel

But I Am Not Done with You Yet