Slice of Life 2022: 22 of 31- The joy of older children

    It's March, and March means the Slice of Life Story Challenge. All are welcome to join the challenge of noticing and writing about the moments of daily life that are stories.

Checkout was 10 am this morning. By 9:55, the five of us had packed up, taken a walk, enjoyed coffee, made breakfast, and some of us had even taken a shower. When the cleaning person arrived at 10:10, we were all sitting in the chairs outside reading our books. The owner of the Airbnb had said it was no problem if we wanted to take chairs and towels to the beach, so we figured it would also be fine to sit in the outdoor living area and read, as long as all remnants of us were out of the house. 

“You’re all reading?” Kat, the cleaning person, asked. 

Kat had greeted us on Saturday morning when we arrived, and now she was set to transition the place for the next group of renters. 

Five of us looked up from our books. Not our phones. Not our iPads. Our paperback books. 

“I haven’t seen a family all sit together and read,” she laughed. “I love this.”

I loved it too. Years ago, traveling with four daughters was a lot of work, involving careful packing of high-interest activities that didn’t take up too much room in a travel bag. Now, traveling with all of them, some of them, or one of them is a joy. They love to walk, explore, read, eat, and relax in the same ways and at the same pace I do. 

I can’t wait for our next adventure.