JUST Family Time |

Last weekend, a Christmas gift finally “paid off,” sort of. On Christmas morning, I had surprised our family with plans for a quick weekend trip to St. Louis to watch a basketball game and to go eagle watching over the Mississippi River.

Well, the weather did not cooperate, so we headed south, instead, and just enjoyed visiting some old favorite spots in Nashville. It was still a great trip, even if it did not have any new experiences.

It was something that was said on the way there that has had me doing a lot of thinking, though. As we were nearing Nashville and talking about what we were going to do, I asked what I thought was a simple question: “Why are you so excited?”

I was expecting to hear something about what we were going to do, or just that we were together, or even that we were going to stay in a hotel.

Instead, one of my kids said something along these lines: “Well, this will be fun, but it’s also not like a speaking engagement.”

When I heard that, I smiled, but my heart sank inside.

Here’s what that child meant. Most of the time when we have taken little trips together as a family, it has been because one or both of us (Leah or me) have been speaking. Maybe it is a youth rally. Maybe it is Leah doing a ladies’ day. Maybe it is both of us holding a marriage or family seminar. We love doing all of those, and the kids don’t mind going. In fact, they usually look forward to the time.

But when that was said, it just made me realize how long it had been since we had done anything like even an overnight trip JUST as a family. No speaking engagements. Not being on someone else’s schedule. No time separated because one or both of us has to look over notes.

I don’t know how many such trips we can take. After all, they aren’t free and they do take time. We may never take a two-week, “see the USA” type of vacation, and week-long trips to the regular vacation spots so many people seem to frequent may be few and far inbetween.

But that one comment helped me to remember how important it is to experience things JUST as a family. And it doesn’t have to be anything huge. I mean, one of the highlights of our trip was buying a cheap board game on sale and playing it in the hotel room! But it was still special because it was something just for us, and our kids knew it.

Now, to reschedule that trip to St. Louis……..

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AUTHOR: Adam Faughn