I've Been Asked to Write About My Ultimate Vacation As a Class Assignment. It's Funny

Participant #4

Dear Wendy,

I hope this letter finds you doing well. Although I haven't seen you for a while now, you've been in my thoughts lately and I decided to write you a letter and tell you about it.

I've been asked to write about my ultimate vacation as a class assignment. It's funny to me, but whenever I think about what I'd truly like a vacation to be like, my thoughts always turn to those camping trips to the lake that your family took in the summers and on which I was lucky enough to be included. How I loved those trips then and how wonderful it sounds to me right now. Those vacations were just about having time to be together. I loved playing all the games like hand and foot and cribbage. I loved the time we spent cooking and eating. But mostly I loved the magic that seemed to always occur on those trips. Remember the night we sat outside watching the northern lights dance in the sky? They were so beautiful and seemed like they were alive! I've never seen northern lights before or since that were so animated and so colorful. And it almost seemed like magic whenever I walked barefoot along the shoreline, gathering stones and shells, and could daydream about the past or the future or almost nothing at all…

I suppose a large part of what made those trips seem so special was seeing them through an adolescent's eyes and dreams. However, there are many aspects of these trips that I would now love to recreate if I could take my ultimate vacation. I love to be along the water and to be able to look out and feel like I can see forever. It's funny after growing up where there were so many trees how much I now love the open vistas and views of Nebraska. The views are stunningly beautiful – just like looking out on the water – and filled with rolling hills and waving grasses or crops. Maybe the water wouldn't really be the important feature, but I'd love to be at a place with great views and times of great quiet. I'd love to have a few days with no agenda – no assignment deadlines, no writing projects due, no place where I'd have to go or task that would need my immediate attention, no phone calls that would have to made. I'd love time for working puzzles, baking breads and pies, going for long walks holding Fred's hand and seeing sights we've not seen before (like that little shop we discovered that sold the best maple syrup), taking naps and long showers, and meeting new people with the time to talk and get to know a little about them. Of course, it would be an extra bonus to get to watch fire flies dance in the evening or to be able to show Fred a northern lights show at night!

Of course, if this were my ultimate vacation with no limits, then I'd do a few things differently than when we were kids! I'd love to get to this place by riding the train (yes, I still love trains although they aren't very convenient in Nebraska) and I'd rather stay in a cottage or cabin than that old tent (remember how the rain came in?!). I'm not sure if I will get to take this ultimate vacation any time soon (or ever), but thanks so much for including me in your family adventures when we were young. The memories and dreams most definitely live on…

Yours truly, Nicole