My first thought—as we were hugging good-bye and someone said, “Why didn’t we do this sooner?”—was that it took something like cancer to motivate us to plan this sibs-and-mom-in-law vacation.
And then the next thought was, with everyone’s crazy busy schedules these days, how does anyone have time to plan memory-making experiences with larger, extended groups of the people they love?
Here are 5 recommendations based on our week-long family vacation:
- Plan ahead.We started talking about doing a siblings-and-mom-in-law Alaskan cruise when three of the sibling couples were together for Thanksgiving. And then text messages went out every which way to make sure it was on the radar screens of all involved: Mark your calendars for next September.
- Send gentle reminders.Every time you chat with a fellow vacationee, include reminders: “Don’t forget; we’re hiking Mt. Everest next year, Our family vacation is still on your calendar, right?, Did you buy your blizzard gear yet?”
- Be flexible.An Alaskan cruise was the initial plan, but as Hubby’s cancer started breaking the speed limit, we
needed to stay close to central Oregon medical care. And so, a large vacation home not far from our hometown was rented. Is there a vacation area near you? Or somewhere smack dab in the middle of all invitees?
I laughed so much that week that my tummy muscles hurt! And the most important thing: Fabulous memories were made that can never be taken from us.