The Scramble Before a Vacation

You may have had many more vacations or holidays, than I have, so I wonder - do you always scramble to get things packed and ready before you leave? Are there things you have to do ahead for the time you will be gone?

I can only imagine that if you regularly take vacations you have all these preparations down to a smooth science, right?

I think I mentioned last summer that my weekend flight to/from Winnipeg for Ernie & Dori's 2nd Anniversary (since they could not have family come for their wedding during COVID) was my first vacation in 37 years.

This time it is only one year, and again, for just a few days. But I'm getting rather excited.

I got to thinking this morning (day before I leave) about all my vacations in my life-time. Here's the first one.

It came when I was nine and had learned at school about families going on vacation, so I begged Mom for one. She insisted we couldn't afford one; finally she said that I could go sleep-over at Gr'ma and Grandpa's place (just across the pasture between our homes) and help Gr'ma with picking the berries in her garden.

Gr'ma had an herb and flower garden on the south side of their home facing the road. On the other side of the driveway was a fruit garden with 4+ kinds of berries (currents, gooseberries, raspberries, olbassum, and more, wild plum trees, crabapples, and so on.)

Back from the house a good distance was a large rectangular garden surrounded with tall trees, including choke cherries, that sheltered it from strong north winds; that was for all the potatoes, corn and other vegetables that were to tide them through the winter.

(Remember, Gr'ma had 11 children, though the first died in 5 hours, and Jacob died at age 6, so only 9 grew up).

In a few days Mom came to check on me and asked Gr'ma if I was a good worker. She answered, "Yes, pretty good, but Ruthie picks most of the raspberries into her mouth."

I believe my next vacation came when I was 12, and had won two full weeks at Redberry Lake Bible Camp for memorizing 200 Bible verses throughout the school year.

I don't recall any other vacation until I graduated from high school and started working at Sasktel as a telephone operator. After a full year I got my first paid two-week vacation in Sept. I had just bought a new 1968 Nova, and decided I would go to B.C. for the first time and visit various relatives who lived there. I told Mom of this plan and asked if she wanted to come with me. It didn't take her long to say "Yes."

I have lots of memories of that vacation!

As you can tell, I'm on a roll. So maybe this is a good place to stop, and invite you to tell me of the vacations you remember the best.

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