FRAZIER: Submit your Summer Fun Photos to Vicksburg Living Magazine
Published 4:00 am Saturday, June 11, 2022
Mirriam-Webster defines vacation as a scheduled period during which activity is suspended or a period of exemption from work is granted to an employee. The Cambridge English Dictionary defines vacation as a time when someone does not go to work or school but is free to do what they want, be it traveling or just relaxing.
And the Urban Dictionary, which is an online lexicon created in 1999 to define slang words and phrases, defines vacation as a period of time in which an adult pretends that he/she is a child again and has no responsibilities to tend to, spends money like the world is ending and relaxes.
My guess is, like me, the perception of a vacation is a smattering of all three of these dictionaries’ definitions.
Of course, I have been granted time off from work by my employer to spend as I please, and I remember the freedom I enjoyed during the summer months in between my school days. Then there have been the vacations where I spent more money than I had planned. And, oh yes there were instances as an adult — a mature adult over 50 — when I threw caution to the wind and demonstrated my inner child so as to participate in an activity only to experience the residual effects the next day.
This, in fact, happened to me last weekend while my hubby and I were visiting my son and his fiancée in Austin. The kids had planned a trip to Lake Travis, where an obstacle course water park was set up.
The weather was beautiful that day, and Waterloo Adventures was tons of fun.
I climbed and slid, but mostly I just jumped off the inflatables into the water. The obstacle course, admittedly, was above my skill set and I knew I was going to fall off anyway, so I just cut to the chase.
It wasn’t until the next day the stiffness and soreness in my skeletal and muscular systems showed up, reminding me that I was no longer a spring chicken.
But like the Urban Dictionary defined — a vacation can be a time when the cares of the world disappear, and we can feel like children again. And with the help of a dose of Advil, it had been worth it.
Before leaving Lake Travis, my youngest daughter, who was also on the trip along with her boyfriend, wanted to take a picture of the six of us at the water park as a reminder of the good times shared.
In the upcoming July/August edition of the Vicksburg Living Magazine, we are inviting readers to share pictures of their fun times in the summer, which can include a snapshot from a vacation, friends at an outdoor barbeque, fun times at the pool, a family reunion or trail hiking. Please be sure and include the names of everyone in the picture. You can email them to me at terri.frazier@vicskburgpost.com or at vicksburgpost.com/summerfun.
Oh, and don’t delay. Our deadline is June 15.