abnormes

It often astounds me how quickly time runs.

So, for the past three weeks I have had the incredible opportunity of touring Europe with my family. Between making an honest attempt at doing everything, seeing everything, and smelling everything, coupled with the effects of an 8-hour time difference, virtually all the spare time I usually grab for writing has been used for sleeping and other mental and physical reconnaissance. Which, while necessary, is also regrettable.

Good thing the plane ride is so long, and the novelty and wonder of flying over icy Greenland is enough to make me feel that falling asleep now would be distasteful.

 

I shall hopefully be able to share some thoughts from my experiences in Europe but for now, shall only attempt to give a summary of what I've gained there.

For one thing, it's been a long time since I've lived the family life. Having moved out some years ago and being single and fabulous since then, once again spending time with a whole flock of people you can't quite get away from and who know your every nerve can be an adjustment, at best. Especially under the constraints of going everywhere together, sharing hotel rooms and hotel beds with everyone and potpourri of individual foot odors, and in general just trying to avoid calamity in so many new and confusing cities and languages.  Good times.

But in all reality, it really does make for good times. Of course we all had our struggles. I think family vacations are probably the most trying on family relationships; everyone spends a lot of time at their worst. Mom and Dad are constantly stressed with making the itinerary work, keeping the bouncy 8-year-old out of oncoming traffic, hushing the quarrels that erupt more reliably than Old Faithful, and appearing like a nice happy family that doesn't annoy the other tourists. Everyone else is hungry,  bossily trying to help the fellow kids bouncier than themselves, and getting those bossier than them off their back.  Everyone is exhausted, no one knows exactly what's going on, and everyone is having a hard time communicating.

Nevertheless, family trips are one of the greatest things for family relationships.  Aside from being stuck with each other (on ten hour flights, no less) and having to get over how awful we've been to each other (great opportunity to learn how to apologize well. A skill I think we're all still working at), family trips form milestone memories for the family. Getting out of the norm and sharing new experiences with each other enriches relationships and adds new layers that otherwise wouldn't be formed. Some of us have discovered new common interests to share, new ways to depend on each other, and even new favorite siblings. ;)  We've all had to pull together to make things work out.  We've made memories of playing too vigorously on a merry-go-round, of burying each other at the beach, inventing wacky translations of all the signs we couldn't read, and inside jokes of all the ways we made each other laugh to ease up the tension. We've learned how to encourage and help each other do new things. Over the past three weeks, we've invested a lot in our family.

I don't say this to brag about Europe, but definitely about my family. Turns out, they're all pretty awesome. :)

And I really believe that you don't have to go all the way to Europe to find that out. Family trips can be simple, for a few hours or a few weeks, but doing things together is so challenging because it is so worthwhile.  

This is, of course, not the only big picture I learned from Europe, but definitely an important one. I'll continue to share summaries as I go, throughout several posts, due to the fact that my summaries often become analyses and are no longer adequately short.

But of all the lessons learned abroad, the thing that comes first (even before breakfast) is family.