Photo credit: Google images

 

When I returned home from my weekend in Antwerp, not only did I uncharacteristically unpack right away, I actually put my suitcase away. Not away in the corner of my bedroom, but like, upstairs in the attic, away.

Yeah, I know what you’re thinking: WOW! As much as I like to travel, I realize that sometimes I need to heed the advice of the good book and be still and know that He is God, and so that my kids know that I am Mom.

I’ve been asked several times since the Antwerp trip – even a couple of times during the trip – “where are you going next?” Um, to sleep. You laugh, but I’m dead tired serious.

Antwerp came on the heels of a week away in Nice, where I ran a marathon, and London, where I attended the World Travel Market (WTM) travel trade show, which followed another trip to London with my family a couple of weeks earlier. Before that I was away 2 consecutive weekends: the first, in Spain at a conference for travel bloggers, then in Portugal where I ran a half-marathon.

Don’t get me wrong. I love to travel and run the world, but I need to catch my breath, not to mention catch up on the writing for all this travel. And yes, catch up on sleep as well.

It’s also the holiday season, and in addition to going to a party virtually every weekend from now until Christmas, there are the normal school and after-school activities, as well as all the extra ones that go along with the holiday season, not to mention Christmas shopping, deadlines (which I believe I have already mentioned), and, well, you get the idea. I’ve got it a lot going on, as I’m sure everyone does this time of year.

So for the next few weeks, I’m going to enjoy the journey to…the grocery store to pick up the ingredients for making my holiday goodies, the children’s Christmas program at church, a Christmas market or two, and to the homes of family and friends to celebrate the season with them.

And sometime during these next few weeks, after I’ve been still for a while and have gotten some rest and in between office Christmas parties and girlfriends’ gift exchanges, I’ll sneak upstairs and bring my suitcase down, pack – but not until very last minute, of course – and make my way to the next destination.