Maddie Got Her Wings

…the cabin shock and jerked a little as we began our descent. The whirring and wheezing of the cabin air (or the outside air) was in constant motion. Subtle little booms were heard as well as the sound of what were perhaps the plane’s wheels bays opening. As we touched down on the runway the slight whiplash occurred for a few seconds as the plane struggled to maintain control and slow down. The plane is now at a low and easy speed as we taxi into our terminal. And the little girl who is in my arms, not because she was scared but more or less bored from sitting still in a stuffy airplane cabin, gave out a very enthusiastic “HOORAY!!” and then promptly fell asleep on my shoulder.

She took her map there on my shoulder for the next half-hour as we exited the plane and walked to the baggage claim. All that time I kept thinking: This is hands-down my favorite moment of our week long trip.

We took Maddie on a week long vacation before to a beach resort town in a nice 2-bedroom condo last summer when she was still 1 and a half-ish. We drove down and she had her own room to sleep and nap. It was a trying yet manageable nice vacation and a good time for all I’d say. This year we were invited by my folks to join them in their Bermudian timeshare for the week along with my brother and his wife. Truth be told both me and my wife (and my mother) were a bit reluctant and nervous about taking the trip because of the traveling and Maddie’s possible terrible twos. We agreed though because it sounded like a great trip to take and with all the family members it might assist us and Maddie in being well-behaved.

Turns out our anxiety was a tad overstated. Maddie was in excellent form, very well-behaved and was very patient with everything from waiting at the airport, customs, the actual plane rides, the lunches and dinners and the bus rides and ferry rides as well. In fact we think she liked the many new modes of transportations she experienced this past week, especially the bus as she sang “The Wheels On The Bus” and pointed out the sights along the many twists and turns on Bermuda’s roads. She napped and slept well as per her usual and ate like a champ. Our only complaint about her was she didn’t like the beaches (not sure if it was the heat, sand or wind that bugged her) but she loved the pool, so it wasn’t the worst thing, although traveling that great distance to a tropical island with great crystal clear water beaches only to stay poolside was kind of a bummer.

So it turned out to be a great and wonderful vacation after all and we have my parents and brother and sister-in-law to thank for helping out and being loving and supportive.

However, and this is in no way a slight to my folks, but my wife and I realized that this was not really a vacation for her and I. We think it’ll be at least a decade to get to a point of a real vacation again for us. As parents with a young kid (and if we add more kids) vacations are really not vacations but being a parent in a new locale. We really didn’t sight-see nor relax poolside/beachside. Even dinners weren’t much different with us eating quick and on alert making sure she was behaved and helping her eat. Until the kids are preteens I would say traveling and vacationing will be really worthwhile. I think even my own mom would agree with me there.

But after all the fun things we did together and all the great meals we did in fact have, coming home again with a very happy child asleep on my shoulder was the best moment I received.