The last time our writer took a vacation with her mother was when she was 15. You can learn a lot about yourself on a mother-daughter trip like this.
When I usually plan a vacation I ask my partner or maybe my best friends if they have time. For a long time, my mother was not in the inner circle of the elect. I can't really explain why that was the case, because after daring the step mom-daughter vacation beyond 30, I would definitely count her among the top 3 of my vacation companions.
In the last few years I have been on love vacations with my partner, fun vacations with my girls, or self-discovery vacations with myself. Vacation with mom? Wasn't even on the agenda. Maybe in the last few years it was also because I don't have any children yet. Because as a young mother you take your own to the beach or into the mountains for purely practical reasons. After all, grandma enjoys spending time with the grandchildren, while the new parents can enjoy time together. We should spend quality time with mom much more often.
The ideal idea for a birthday
For her milestone birthday my mother – surprisingly – didn't want anything. This nothing gave me a lot of headache, until a flash of inspiration and a look at the website of the travel company Fitreisen, which specializes in health travel, gave me the ingenious holiday idea. Because my mother has health problems with her legs and knees, a short trip to a health hotel with a medical team would be just the thing.
Mama was really happy and so on the Thursday before leaving I stood in her bedroom and helped with packing. She was really excited and I realized that my gift was right on target. Even the drive the next day was a real highlight. We chugged off quite comfortably, took our time and listened to a CD my mother had made. The fact that there were only songs on it that I also liked showed me once again how much their taste in music shaped me. We sang along loudly and had to laugh several times when we made weird hand movements on some songs at exactly the same line of text and emphasized the line of the song strangely.
But Mom's laugh passed for a moment when she realized that she had forgotten one of the most important things for a spa vacation: her bikini. Our first mission was to buy a bikini. A quick call to our hotel, the Klosterhof in Bayerisch Gmain, was enough and we got a great tip for a local swimwear store. Mama bought a chic tankini, and I was there as a fashion advisor, whom Mama trusted completely. A nice feeling that lasted the entire vacation.
I took over the registration, organized wellness treatments in the Klosterhof spa, the menu for dinner and felt as if life would turn around at some point. While my mother took the helm of the organization at the age of 15, this time it was handed over to me very gently. She let me make all the decisions and was happy not to have to regulate anything.
Vacation with parents is popular
A study on behalf of Enterprise Rent-a-Car came to the result last year that more than a third (35 percent) of German adults were on vacation with their parents across all age groups, compared to 25 to 34 year olds even 61 percent, among 35 to 44 year olds at least 47 percent and among 45 to 54 year olds 17 percent.
So we were right on trend. And because it was raining all the time and hiking was out of the question, we were lying around most of the time. Sometimes we made a power nap in the cozy bed, then we relaxed in the sauna, later on the comfortable loungers by the pool. I was so grateful for the relaxation time with my mother. We were finally able to talk about a lot of things that we cannot discuss in the hectic everyday life when I come to visit for a day. We talked about mom's health. About her and my relationship career. About the future. I discovered aspects of my mother that reminded me very strongly of a very important person in my life: me. And that made the vacation a very special time.
Suddenly I recognized myself in my mother
My mother is just as open to new things as I have always been. I usually look in vain for this quality in my father, he is more of the "I don't know, I don't miss" type. Therefore, he may often see shadows where there are actually none. My mother always looks positively into the future – also one of my outstanding qualities that I keep hearing even during feedback discussions on the job. Is there a problem in my life? Then there has to be a solution – no matter how absurd it may sound. Thank you, mom, for mixing your positive attitude towards life into my gene cocktail – and for our wonderful vacation!