Are our vacations really vacations? How many of us have forgotten what a true vacation feels like?
And yet we all need rest—real rest.
If only others understood...
If only others would help...
If only others knew...
Enough complaining. Let's look honestly at what we ourselves can do to take a real break.
Vacation as a time to...
...find the courage to do something special with our child—plan an outing, take a trip, stay at a hotel, visit friends, go camping.
...let our child go, trusting him to someone reliable for a week alone, to prove to both of us that he can do it.
...break through our isolation—born of fear, difficult moments, strange behaviors—and reach out to others with openness, peace, and confidence that we will find friendship and support.
...invite a young person whose parents cannot travel to spend a few days with us, and discover it is not as hard as we feared.
...speak to a parent pushing a wheelchair or holding a child's hand—someone our more attentive eye recognizes—and exchange a few words.
...break an old habit (the way we have always done things) and teach our children something new: to sleep alone, to wash themselves, to make a drink, to walk in the rain, to spend a night under a tent.
...read a book that helps us understand our children or others' behavior better.
...pick up a pen and write an article for "Insieme"—and send it.
...make new friendships, drawing in a young person or friend willing to join the Fede e Luce community.
...above all, pay attention to others, offering them calm, trust, and joy.
...finally, pray to our Father for everyone—those near and far, friends and strangers alike.
Something we cannot do during the rest of the year, caught up as we are in work and worry.
Something that gives us reason to live, joy in being alive, energy to face our daily lives again—despite everything.
We wish vacations like these, a little different, from the heart to all our readers.
Vacation: Beach trips, sunshine, fun, walks and outings!
Why not add to it a little effort—the discovery of what lies hidden "beyond appearances."
Behind easy, false, glittering appearances there may be a sad reality.
Behind heavy, gray, tiresome appearances there may be, like the sun, something beautiful.
Beyond appearances!