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short stories

Life’s a Vacation

What kind of vacation are you planning to have?

      Think of life as a vacation. When we are born, the vacation starts. At first, it seems like this vacation will last for a very long time. However, as we grow older, our vacation soon speeds up and will all too soon be over. The hardest thing about the greatest gift (life or shall we say vacation) is we never know when it will end. Like any extended vacation, there will be ups and downs that we will go through.

       This vacation starts out great, with nothing to do but enjoy the playtime. Soon, as we grow a little older, we must pay our dues, so we can continue to enjoy our vacation. If we don’t work hard, the vacation soon starts to fall apart. We can no longer enjoy the finer things without putting in the work. If you want to be enrolled in your college of choice one day, you must put in the work to add that to your itinerary. The first thing that is thought of when someone says college is the money it cost. You may have wealthy parents to foot the bill, but you still have to keep them grades up, not only to get in, but to stay once you are there. How about being able to visit a different part of this great park, we call earth. The money must be saved and spent to visit different countries. You may need to learn different languages and customs to be able to stay for an extended amount of time. This all comes down to, how much do you want it, and are you willing to put in the work to get it?

      Most people think of the one or two week vacations you get after you have worked a job for a year. If we think of life as a vacation, then we are working many years to enjoy it until we leave. This vacation can be as good or bad as we make it. This can truly be a lifelong wonderful vacation, if we want it to be. We can also have a miserable vacation, if we allow ourselves to let it be.

Two small children talking, one in wheelchair and one sits in chair

      Here is a thought for you to put into perspective, why are people that are born with disabilities, usually the happiest people to meet? These people accomplish more and enjoy life more than the fully functioning person out there. Maybe, just maybe, they see life as a vacation they have been granted. This thing we call life, most people don’t think of more than just a struggle, but those with afflictions (who should be the ones complaining), are those that find the good things about life and live it to the fullest. These people truly enjoy life because they can see what a gift they have been given. They also know to make the best of it before their vacation runs out. Why can’t we all see life in this way? Why take this gift and make it a nightmare? The breath of life is a gift, if you want to believe it or not.

        The middle of our vacation is the hardest. This is the part of the vacation we must work, not only for our own vacation, but for our families as well. As a man, I can say with all honesty, once my children started being born, all I thought about was them. I didn’t worry about me anymore, I wanted to make sure they had a better life (vacation) than me. Children make us want to work harder, so they may have the better things in life. If we are to have the nice homes, cars and family to put into our vacation, we must be willing to sacrifice a great deal for the reward. We, along with our significant other, might have to put aside what we want, in order for our children to do better than we did.

William Scaggs holding his grandson
I’m a proud grandfather holding my grandson

      As you get older and look into your grandchildren’s eyes, you can see what you have passed down into their vacations. Furthermore, we become older, and our vacation is coming to an end. Did we get to see and do all the things we wanted to earlier in life? You would probably answer no to this question. So, if we didn’t get to enjoy the whole park (or world) did we at least get to enjoy most of life up to this point? If your answer to this is no, then it’s make-up time before the park closes. Few people get to visit even half of the park. The question is, did you get to enjoy the part of the park you have seen? Are you happy with the part of the park you are at? Can you be content to finish the rest of your vacation where you are, with happiness in your heart? If the answer is yes, then you, my friend, have been successful in life and your vacation has been wonderful indeed! If you have answered no to this question, then maybe it’s time for a few changes. You have worked hard all through life, and you deserve to end your vacation on a high note.

      Let’s take a for instance and look at what you believe should be the high point of leaving this vacation. Have you been saving your money for that rainy day, but always wanted to go on a cruise? It is a good thought to be prepared, but if you are just holding money with no more reason than, if something should happen, you are letting your vacation slip away. I’m not saying to spend your life savings, but don’t just rot away on that old couch, either. Enjoy some of what you have worked so hard for. It’s a fact that you can’t take that money with you, it will stay at the park when you’re gone. You may be saving it for your loved ones to have, but you should have rights to some of it, shouldn’t you? Your loved ones should want you to enjoy the park before it closes. They are working on their own vacations, and what you leave them should be considered a bonus, not a fully paid vacation.

       So let’s look back at what life is. Life is a vacation that we have no idea how long it will last. If life is a vacation, then we must work hard to make it the best vacation that we can. If we want to make the best of our vacation and truly enjoy this great park, (earth) we better do the best we can every day and not wait. Those that wait, may miss a ride if the park should close before they decide to enjoy it. Our families are also here on vacation, and we must help them make the best of the park as well. If you want to accomplish something that you have dreamed of, don’t put it off too long, or the park may close on you before you can.

Lady, with arms spread, looking at the beach

       This maybe the wildest way to look at life like a vacation, but isn’t better than thinking of life as a struggle? There is good and bad here at the park we call earth, but searching for the good is better than accepting the bad. We have no idea how long we will live. When your number is up, it’s up and that’s it. No matter how bad things are right now, if you look for the good, life is better. The world is not a perfect place, and we must overcome many obstacles, but overcome them and move on. Don’t give up when you’re down, keep getting up and go again. Let’s make life the best vacation ever!

Speck on a marble in a universe

Do you feel like you are more important than others around you? Are you bigger then life itself? Time to come off your high horse and stare at the stars.

I’m not trying to make you feel insignificant or trying to tell you not to do your best in everything. I just want you to take a few moments and realize what is really out there and what your place truly is. I find that people can become so into themselves that they can’t see how small of a footprint they are making in life. If you believe that a king, president or ruler of any kind is better than the man or woman that spends their time picking up roadkill for a living, you are sadly mistaken.

Baby sleeping in basket

Everyone of us arrived in this world in basically the same way. Some people grew up to strive for greatness, some born into money and others that are filling in the gaps. What I’m trying to get at is, we are all as important as the other person. People in higher ranks of life have more responsibility but, that does not in anyway make them better then anyone else. I myself will talk to you the same and show you the same respect, regardless of wether you are President of the United States or the janitor at the local high school. We are all just as important as the next guy.

The reason I brought up how insignificant we really are is not to suggest anything bad. This is to put into perspective how small we truly are. Have you ever taken the time to stare at the stars? When we look into the vastness of space, we realize how much bigger things are then our little home that we call Earth. Heck, we could put one million of our earth’s into the space our sun occupies. Just imagine how much time has gone by from any single star to the point when we see it. There is alot more out there than our tiny planet.

Stars in the sky from country setting

Here we are in all our glory and yet, we are nothing when it comes to everything that is in the universe. We think of ourselves as bigger than life but in actuality, we are but specks in a universe. Why are we so great? What makes us so special? Read on and maybe you will understand what I have finally learned after years of thought in my own little world.

We are special because we are chosen to be what no other creature can claim. We are a reflection of the one whom created all the stars, planets and vastness of space that we are such a small part of. We are but a speck riding on a marble tumbling around in one of many universes and yet, we are truly spectacular. We hold the glory of the one whom created it all.

This my friends brings up a thought of how crazy it is for us to fight each other over things that really don’t matter. Things like rich versus poor or black versus white. How stupid can we be? Let’s see if we can get some sort of example of the way things should be. How about ants? These small creatures work together to create massive empires in their small world. Why can’t we come together and build our empire in our small world? We fight each other and destroy instead of building what could be the greatest empire we could ever conceive.

Looking at the earth from the moon

I believe we were put on this earth to perform a service for the one whom created us. I believe this is not to destroy but, rather save and build to the greatness that we have the ability to achieve. This means we must work together and love one another, not to hate and destroy each other. We have the ability to do anything we desire as long as we work together like the ants do.

Next time you feel that you are better then your fellow human, look up in the sky and remember that we are but a very small part of the vastness that is. We must work together because we do hold a great responsibility and the only way to keep it is to bind together. We all have our part to play and it won’t work without working together.

Man starring at the stars from a lookout

Will you join with me, not as my superior or as my subordinate but, as my equal to achieve greatness? Are you ready to show our creator what we can do? We all have our special gifts to apply to the empire. If we can learn to share our gifts instead of keeping them to ourselves, we can create what will make our creator proud.

Mankind, such a small creature with such big ego’s. If we are to be as great as we think we are, we better start thinking more like the ants. So so small but, with the greatness of giants within us. It is true that we are a very small part of the massive amount of what is. Yet, we hold the true heart of our creator. We are a great part of the universes, small as we are, we should learn to live together with humbleness and set aside our egos. Will we show the creator what a great creature he has created on this our tiny planet or will he wander where he could’ve done a better job?

I come to you with love and a humble heart to ask that we come together the way we were meant to be. Our world is huge to us as a small patch of land is to the ants. Just remember, we are smaller than the ants when we see what is truly out there. Spend some time looking at the stars and be proud that we are the chosen planet. Take care my friends and Remember, we are all in this together.