Vacation Glow

In a magazine article I read over the weekend, it said to reap the biggest payoff from your summer vacation, choose the option of taking a bunch of short trips over one long getaway. A study found that you get pleasure from anticipating a vacation, not just taking one.
I have always said that I need "something to look forward to". It doesn't have to be big, just something. Very seldom do we have a weekend with nothing on the calendar so it makes for a nice rest, but if I have a steady diet of nothing on the calendar, I fall into a funk.
Planning the vacation has always been part of the fun for me. Being a "planner" by nature, this allows me to makes lists, plan clothes to take, things to see, food to eat. I have always said that the vacation itself is so fleeting and goes by so fast, the anticipation before and the memories afterwards, are almost as good as the vacation itself. How many times have I looked through the photo books of a trip with the little ones, talking about what we did, where we went and fun things that happened to us? They, too, feel the excitement all over when we see the pictures. When we are finished looking at the photos, the inevitable question is, "When are we going again, Grammie?"
As June begins and marks the start of summer, I see our vacation calendar holds lots of little trips this year instead of one big one. Some are hotel bound and some are camping in tents. Some are the whole family and some are grown ups only. Each holds a feeling of excitement and promise of more memories to be made. Ahhh, the anticipation of it all!