Family Vacation!

So what is a good sign you have returned to some normalcy after your wife has battled with cancer and is in remission?

Vacation!

That is what our family found out after helping my wife deal with her breast cancer.

Because of all of the treatments, operations, recoveries and medical costs our family put this aspect of our lives on hold for a few years. Once we saw that her final reconstructive surgery was scheduled and she began to feel good again we started saving for a trip.

Once we evaluated our finances and the time frame that would work we asked our 4 kids where they would like to go. I was expecting Disneyland or Disney world and other theme park destinations. When they all chimed in with Hawaii it took my wife and I off guard...but we were excited. Battling theme park crowds did not sound like a good jumping off point in re-acclimating ourselves to vacations.

Because we live close to the west coast it was cheaper than we thought it would be and we had a really good travel agent that hooked us up with great cost saving alternatives. It was a fun experience to all save for the common good of the vacation. Instead of the children spending all of their allowance on cheap toys they enjoyed putting money in out "Hawaii jar" every chance they could. They also sold cookies to our neighbors to drum up some activity money.

But the person that loved it more than anyone was probably my wife. She thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of the planning, saving and travel. She mentioned many times how it really took her mind off of cancer and let her focus on something positive in nature.

The kids behaved better than I thought they would and it was awesome to see my wife as happy as I've seen her in a long time. We've already started planning a National Park trip for next year!

As soon as its feasible I recommend doing a family vacation to any destination you can afford as you will all need it!