Week-long vacations are all different and all alike. The activities are different, depending on where the family goes. But the pattern of vacations are all alike. Vacations have their own times and own rhythms. My children hate the rhythms of my vacations.

The first few days of vacation usually are glorious. Play is a priority. All activities are wonderful (even the horrible ones) if only because they are different than everyday activities. Bad hotel mattresses are amusing�even as I am having trouble standing upright. Places are amusing.

The middle part of vacation usually means getting into a groove. We develop a daily schedule, however loosely. We set our bodies to the time clock of where we are. We begin to expect certain things from our days. Here, in Phoenix, we adjust to sunshine every day and to not looking for jackets when we leave the house. We lounge around.

For Mr. Philately and me, this middle time usually is the time our offices will catch up with us if they are going to do so. I learn of elections. I learn of oral argument dates that will come up very shortly and quickly. But in the strange and different land of vacation, those pressures fade because they seem oh-so-far away.

Problems arise in the end phase of vacation. I think of the end-phase of vacation as anticipatory return. I start adjusting my body rhythms by sleeping and waking closer to the times of my natural midwestern habitat. I insist my kids do the same---and they hate me for it. My need to ease into transitions lifts them from the moment and starts pointing them back in the direction of home. But they are not ready to go. Being children, they would rather stay in the moment. Oh, they�ll hate the abruptness of getting up several hours earlier but why worry about it now?

Today was the start of that phase. The kids are outside, still enjoying the sun, the pool, and some water balloons but they feel my push back to everyday coming at them. After I post this entry and they are out of the pool, I�ll help Kat study for an upcoming history test.

It may be sunny and warm outside but vacation�s autumn is approaching. The kids just hope that my trees don�t drop their leaves in their pool.

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