The Best Day of the Year: Vacationing at Walmart

 

Laugh if you want, but this day was one of my top two favorite days of the year so far.  For context, John lost his job of 16 years last February due to Covid vaccine mandates, and he spent the remainder of the year working multiple, scattered jobs.  Since the older girls also have jobs, that left little time or resources for our usual spontaneous daytrips as a family. We had no vacation, which is only to be expected when one's income looks different than normal, but because John worked long hours and no one was home at the same time, we didn't have a single daytrip together as a family, either, and even our travels to church together ended when our big van broke down, and we had to begin taking separate, smaller vehicles to church on Sundays.

All that to say, I have been longing for time with us all together as a family, and it finally happened one day a year after John lost his job. Our van's transmission had finally been rebuilt, John's new job as a librarian actually allowed for a day off other than Sunday per week, and we pulled out all the stops. We had a blissful day together stopping by his parents, buying a recliner for Annika before her second shoulder surgery, and then spending an hour in Walmart together, letting the little girls pick out all sorts of treats for a picnic at home.

The girls passed my phone around and took blurry phone pictures of a large, happy family traipsing through the Walmarts. Yes, indeed, it was a beautiful day, and I couldn't stop grinning.