Vacation: Act of vacating, intermission, recess, holidays.

Everyone likes to go on vacation have a relaxing time of relieving the stress of everyday life and getting away from it all. Vacations should never include feeding 38 people, babysitting for various age grandchildren or shepherding your 85-year-old mother hither and yon.

Can you tell I’m glad to be back to work?

My recent vacation revolved around my niece’s wedding. It did include a visit from my wayward son who currently resides in Tempe, Ariz. That was nice as it’s been almost a year since the youngest of my brood graced us with his presence. That part of the vacation was way too short as he flew in on Friday and out on Wednesday. That’s the trouble with young people; they tend to fly in and out of our lives a lot.

The feeding of the 38 included my entire immediate family, minus one great-niece who lives in Pennsylvania and whose parents are in a constant state of turmoil over custody; and one niece-in-law serving in the Marines.

It was nice to see my older brother who lives in California and his two sons and their families which reside in Texas and Florida. It was especially nice to visit with my nephew David who recently returned from a stint in Iraq, also a Marine and husband of the absent niece-in-law.

The Florida relatives included the family’s latest addition — a very large great-nephew who turned 1 while he was visiting. So a birthday party for this 28-pounder was also a part of the vacation.

The Texas family included a great-niece, 6, and nephew, 4, that I had also never seen. Their last trip to Indiana occurred when the nephew was a baby, and I was in Washington. My last trip to Texas was for the aforementioned children’s parents’ wedding, so it was nice to see the offspring in person, not just in pictures.

But everybody else I can see on any particular trip to Fort Wayne, although I have to say the bride/niece never looked so good or so happy.

Three of my four grandchildren and I made a side trip to the Indianapolis Children’s Museum as they all accompanied me when I took the son to the Indy Airport. That was fun, but keeping up with an active dinosaur- and train-addicted 5-year-old would have been a chore without his 10-year-old sister and 14-year-old cousin along.

I thought I might get some rest after the son left, but it seems my mother, whom I stay with while I’m visiting, had other plans.

We spent a day at my sister’s cottage on Lake James, and the fact that none of the 13 children in attendance drowned is nothing short of miraculous. We put together the birthday party and fed the crowd one more time.

By the end of the week, I needed a vacation to recover from the vacation. It got so bad I had a hard time staying awake when I took the oldest two grandchildren to the latest Batman movie.

I was glad to return to my quiet house in Washington where my dog and cat make very little demands and sleeping in is always an option.

pmorrison@washtimesherald.com