Ya’ll can I tell you something?

I was an AMAZING mom on vacation. Seriously. THE. BEST.

I was chill and patient. I played games with my kids. I laughed. I enjoyed. I was present. I actually had fun. Like, a legit good time, even when we were doing NOTHING.

I was even a really good wife. No nagging. No eye rolls. No arguing. If there were awards for this vacation week, I would have definitely received them. And not acting awards. This was not me trying to be something by changing my behavior. I actually was nice and calm, funny and sweet.

I was all the things I try to be all the time and it was EASY.

Ok, side note. For all you young mommas out there who just went on vacation and did not feel like it was easy, but quite possibly MORE WORK– your time is coming. Please remember that I am in a season where,

-ALL of my children can swim

-ALL of my children use the toilet

-ALL of my children can buckle themselves into their own seats

-ALL of my children can make their own food

-ALL of my children can go to sleep on their own

“ALL” is such a sweet, sweet word. And so for me, vacation was beautiful.

Then, we came home. A place that I love to be. And it was clean (which was a complete bonus move) with a full extra day to be together and nothing changed

—except everything.

We stepped into this home and a flip switched inside of me. I became work mom, to-do list mom, pick up your stuff mom, I have a million things to do mom. I saw laundry, dishes, stacks of mail, bags to be unpacked, stories to be written, grocery lists and appointments and literally everyone of them jumped out and me and put me back in my place. BOOM! Fun mom, gone.

Which has me thinking…

The only thing that really changed was ME!

My attitude. My mindset. My ideals. My work.

No one put all of that responsibility on me, except me. Why do we even do that?

As mommas, we rack up these 90 mile an hour plans and we forget to stop and enjoy our people. Our people! The ones we are doing all the things for! It’s crazy! And it’s gotta stop. You with me?

Yes. It is one thousand times easier on vacation.

Yes, I know. Vacation can’t last forever.

Yes, you’re right. There are things that need to be done in real life and most of that falls under the momma’s umbrella of ‘things to do’. I get it.

But, can we try to remember that vacation is more about mindset than location?

Because of course there is more to do at home and there are things that need to be done. My list is a mile long and I’m only one day back in it.

But…

My husband and my kids need a vacation momma. They need me present, engaged, playful, chill and fun. Maybe not all days, but most days. And you wanna know why?

The momma sets the tone for the whole house.

So when I am all those things, it’s most likely that they are too:)