The longest day of the year has officially come and gone, which means we are now on the slow, downhill slide toward winter.
Given that the days are currently long and the temperatures are nearing their peak, my family has opted for the traditional summer beach vacation. This is nothing new since we’ve rented a beach house annually for nearly two decades. We’ve changed locations and houses, but one thing that has remained consistent is the oceanside, which we like to keep as close as possible to our back door.
This past weekend, I packed up the family car with the majority of our gear, including beach chairs, umbrellas, suitcases, golf clubs, and food. I then loaded my mother and mother-in-law into the car, entered the location into the GPS, handed the wheel over to my wife, and sent them on their way. My plan was to follow a couple of hours later.
It’s always helpful to have a second vehicle on vacation since it allows for more options. But more importantly, driving separately gives me the opportunity to have three-plus hours of peaceful contemplation and podcast serenity at the start of my holiday.
I’ve come to love going on long drives alone. When I was younger, these outings would have aggravated me. I used to view any trip over half an hour as drudgery. In a phrase, I was focused on the destination and not the journey.
Of course, it was different if I had people with me. I used to love road trips with friends back in the day. Multiple times during the summer, we’d corral two to three carloads of friends and then head out to a festival somewhere in the mountains or out of state. We’d set up our tents and camping gear and then spend the rest of the weekend grooving to the music, partying, and making the most of our time together.
Those events drifted away when kids started to enter the picture. As fun as festivals are, they aren’t the best place to bring an infant or toddler, given how unpredictable things can get. That’s when we started to connect with other couples who had children of the same age, knowing that this would likely add to the enjoyment of everyone involved. Plus, the kids could play together, meaning more time for the parents to relax!
We did these trips until the kids activities started to completely corral our lives. It’s amazing how many weekend baseball tournaments a 12-year-old can have over the summer. Consequently, there ended up being only one or two weeks that opened up for vacations.
At this point, our parents were retired and looking for things to do, so it made sense to drag them with us. Luckily, my mother and mother-in-law have always gotten along famously, so vacationing together has never been an issue. Not to mention, one parent loves to cook, and the other one loves to clean, so it’s like having a chef and a butler tag along on your holiday.
And now we’re at the point where our son has grown old enough that on this year’s beach vacation, we’ve broken new ground: He’s brought along a girlfriend. My wife and I were fine with this since we’ve come to like this young woman very much, but it does change the dynamics of the week. Gone are the days when he is the focus of our attention.
While they are spending some time with us, they are basically living on a different schedule. While the middle-aged and retirees are up early and being active before the sun starts pounding, the youngsters are sleeping in and wandering to the beach later in the afternoon. And while the older set is having cocktails on the porch and making an early dinner, the “kids” are fishing, taking afternoon naps, and then heading out on the town to party late into the night.
But at least they’re with us, and that’s all that matters. And before you know it, they’ll have the babies, we’ll be the retirees, and the grandparents will be the focus of countless stories that will keep them alive in our hearts.
Speaking of interesting stories, this week’s feature, “The Life of Chuck,” is a thought-provoking account about an average, ordinary man. However, this story is not typical in either its narrative structure or the unfolding of the main character’s life.
I didn’t know what to expect from this film other than that it was receiving solid reviews and a bit of industry chatter. And I certainly wasn’t entirely sure where it was heading through most of its two hours, partly because of the disjoined chronology and partly because of the unique integration of side characters. Nevertheless, this film ultimately hit a soft spot with me. It’s endearing on many levels and solid on the contemplative vibes.
A reflective “B” for “The Life of Chuck,” now playing at theaters everywhere.
Got a question or comment for Dom? You can email him at [email protected].
