Tara’s Takes
For those wondering, I did it. I set an out of office reply on my email and completely stepped away from work last week.
In all honesty, I took a couple phone calls, kept an eye on emails (we had a few MNA things I needed to keep up with) and answered a couple questions. But overall, I checked out. And checked in with the kids.
It was fantastic. My muscles may tell you differently, but my mind doesn’t.
I learned a few things on our annual trip to Cragun’s Resort. First, falling up concrete stairs hurts as bad as falling down them. Yes, first day. No, I hadn’t had a drink. We were walking up from the beach and I caught my flipflop on the last step and went down hard. Scraped the end of my toe, one shin, one thigh and bruised my hand (as well as my ego). The kids thought it was funny.
It didn’t slow me down. I also learned how to play pickleball. The boys play with friends and were in charge of teaching us. Poor Ben was my partner on day one, and he will be the first to tell you I am not on the way to being a professional pickleball player. But it was fun and we played every day. One day we were in the sports center because of rain. Other than that we used the outside courts.
I also learned my body is not 20 anymore. Last year I was less than a month out from having surgery. Therefore, I was sidelined from many of the activities. This year I was saying yes to everything.
I went canoeing with Ben while Natalie and Tracy kayaked.
Tracy and I were whipped around the lake on the tube. I have video proof. While the kids thought we weren’t going that fast, the number of times I bounced off the tube disagrees with them.
We had our annual banana boat ride. The eight of us took up the back four seats on each side. Unfortunately for us on the left side, we got completely taken out in the middle of the lake. It was a wild and fun ride, but getting back on that thing without the dock is no joke.
If that wasn’t enough, we threw the frisbee, walked everywhere, swam in the pool and I paddleboarded. I was the only one to stand up and, of course, I was the only one to fall off my paddle board.
The biggest thing is even though we were on the go the entire time, I came back rested mentally. I have more energy, I’m able to focus easier, I’m even sleeping better. I truly just needed to step away for a few days.
Even if every day was met with the kids making fun of me. Totally worth it.
