Mother Memories: Trips and Vacations

For most people a vacation is a time to escape and get away from everyday life, but for me, a vacation was a time that complimented my everyday life and it’s all thanks to my mother.

My mother grew up traveling a lot because my grandparents were both in the army during the Vietnam war. The military service of my grandparents took my mom and her siblings all over the world. So as one would expect, my mom would grow up to be avid traveler and she always took me, my sisters and other close loved ones along for the ride. One thing about my mom is she was a mix of introvert and extrovert and her ways really rubbed off on me and my sisters. When she liked to stay in, she would really stay in, but when she wanted to go out, please believe that she was definitely going out.

My mother loved to take us traveling all over. When it was spring and summer she always took us to the beach. I went to Virginia Beach, Myrtle Beach and Wilmington Beach more times than I could count, but I remembered all the fun we always had. She also took us on vacations that a had a cultural significance as well. A road trip with my mother was the most memorable event ever. On the road to wherever we were going the soundtrack of our car ride was her favorite artist like Seal, Snoop Dogg, Bob Marley, Al Green, Sly and the Family Stone and too many other musicians to name. We all sang along and enjoyed the company of their voices.

When we would travel to places like Tennessee and Virginia we always rode through the mountains and it was there that I personally felt like we were in the purest form of the earth. These vacations were significant for a number of reasons: we went on beach trips to enjoy the heat, we were visiting family friends and sometimes we went on culturally significant trips like when mother took us to Washington D.C. to the Million Family March or when we went to Stone Mountain in Georgia.

The best trips we took were the ones when we went to visit our family in California. I always loved getting on those plane rides and going west to kick it with my family for the summers. Because my family so big and spread out all across the country our yearly family reunions are always held in a different state every year. My mom took us to many which were in Alabama, Tennessee and of course California. As I got older there was a point where I stated to go on certain trips by myself, but before my mom sent me off she always made sure I was prepared just as much as I would be if she was joining me. It was all so hilarious to me because my mind was like “Mom you’re not even going, why is this such a big deal for you?” But that’s just the vacation planner she was.

The older I’ve gotten the less active my vacation experiences have been. In the years since my mother passed away I can count on one hand how many trips I’ve taken, but in her absence these trips have held even greater personal significance. I’ve traveled back to places like Tennessee in the past few years and the rides there always brought back memories of my mother. I have even been blessed to to go on trips to places I was never able to visit with my mom and I often think about how much fun we would’ve had if she had joined me.

Life is a journey and so were all the trips and vacations of which my mom took me. These trips taught me how to appreciate the world for what it is and that is all thanks to my mother.