The Mom Weekly Volume 7: September 5, 2023
Notes
I keep meaning to make notes about prior weeks. Two weeks ago, several of you pointed out that the Oppenheimer article link was behind a paywall. I apologize for that. I know many times paid Substack newsletters have occasional free posts, but I didn’t check to see if this was one of them. Basically, the article was making the point that bad choices can lead to bad consequences; and that we can still feel pity for ourselves and others who make bad choices, while not excusing ourselves or others.
“Sin is, in fact, the most pitiable thing of all. We’re all wandering around, broken people making broken choices, doing our best and missing the mark and failing in dramatic, devastating ways.”
Slightly adjacent, on a humorous side: it reminds me of this meme I encountered somewhere recently, and I think I shared with some of you.
Remember you can reply to any of these emails, and I will get it. I love feedback!
How to Pick the Right Sort of Vacation for You
Arthur C. Brooks wrote recently about having better vacations based on your personality. I find it a good starting point for talking about travel.
He identifies four travel personalities based on whether you are an introvert or extrovert, and how much you like planning.
“The Spontaneous Socializer” — extroverted & hates planning
“The Gregarious Planner”– extroverted, loves planning.
“The Surprise Avoider” — introverted, loves planning
“The Lone Wanderer”—introverted, no planning
I don’t really resonate with any of those personalities. Perhaps, part of me relates to each of the personalities. But it is a good starting point to talk about travel or vacations, and to get to think about some fun future travel!
Let’s go ….
Some other important questions or categories for me would be:
How do you travel with people close to you who might have different travel personalities?
How far in advance do you plan vacations or travel? As you probably know, I love planning trips, I think it’s the best way to operate, and I will die on that hill. 🙂
If it were up to me, I’d plan travel out a year or more in advance. Maybe I wouldn’t have all of my plans made for every minute—but I would know how we were getting there and where we were staying. To me, the planning helps solidify a trip and begins the enjoyment of it far in advance. As I’ve often said, planning helps you enjoy a trip before, during, and after.
Here are some trips that I would like to go on in future years. These are not in order of priority, but I’d love to do each of them:
Trips I’d Like to Take
*pilgrimage to the Holy Land. This one would be best as a tour, very structured, because of the location, and just to be able to see one. My current favorite idea for a Holy Land tour is one with The Catholic Traveler — his Holy Land trip descriptions sound great.
*western US national parks road trip-Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Montana (or more). I’m trying to convince Dad to do this soon.
*European river cruise—I’ve never done a cruise, but these small cruises sound like the right way to give it a try. We’ve watched the ads for Viking Cruise Lines on Masterpiece Theater shows, and that has me interested.
*Alaska cruise/rail trip. I don’t know the best way to explore Alaska, but I’d like to research it.
*Scotland—I don’t know why, but I’ve recently been interested in exploring Scotland.
*the Coast to Coast walk. This is very high on the priority list, definitely for the next year or two. I may do half at a time, so I don’t have an entirely rural UK experience.
*a month in the UK. This could be combined with the above two.
Wow, was this a terrific exercise!! I have gotten a lot of happiness out of making this list! This is the “before” part of enjoying a trip, even far in advance. I highly recommend you do this, too!
You can hit “reply” to this email to let me know if there’s any of those trips that you would like to go on, or to share some of your favorites. I’d love to maintain a list of great trips, and get a chance to actually complete some of them.
Remember how much I love you,
Mom
An interesting read: The New Old Age
Dad shared this article with me from The Atlantic. It’s wonderful. I know you kids are younger, but it’s important to know that people can re-invent themselves all throughout life. We are all growing up, all the time.
An interesting listen: Looking for a good classic movie
Some of us who were home this weekend watched, “His Girl Friday” on Amazon Prime and let’s just say, it did NOT age well. Oy vey. I don’t even know where to begin. So now I’m trying to find a good old movie to watch, or at least have a list of them. I thought about trying some Frank Capra films—I vaguely remember “Meet John Doe” and think it might have been good. I’ll keep you posted. Do you have any watching or listening recommendations?
An action item: Make a list of trips
I keep a list of small action items to put here, and when I looked at it, “Plan a trip a year out” jumped out, naturally.
But I’m going to change it slightly, and ask you to make a list of fun trips you’d like to go on, even years from now. I promise you will enjoy this! And share it with me, if you’d like to. The first step to going on a great trip is to think about it!
What are you doing this weekend?
The Mom Weekly schedules to post on Tuesdays. One of the reasons for this is to encourage you (and me, too!) to think about weekend plans. All too often, I have let that go until Friday, and then it’s hard to get people together, or make plans for coffee, or figure out when you go to Mass (other than the default, which is what we typically do).
So, now that it’s Tuesday, what are you planning for the weekend? I’m going to suggest trying to cover four “F”s to get ideas flowing:
*faith—when are you going to Mass?
*friends—what friends will you see or connect with?
*food—any fun recipes you plan to try, or restaurants you plan to visit?
*fun—anything interesting you are going to play, watch, or do this weekend? Now’s the time to think it through, and put it on the calendar (even informally).