What I Learned From Our Family Vacation

Aubrey
Jul 18, 2016
3 min read

This past week my family took my fiance' and me on the most AMAZING vacation! We spent five days in a mountain cabin in Gatlinburg, falling in love with our surroundings and having a total blast. We went to Dollywood, Splash Country, downtown shops and trails and rivers. We saw "The Secret Life of Pets" (which was adorable, by the way), played intense board games and dressed up like cows to get free food. This was the definition of a classic Trevathan family vacation.

But it wasn't just Trevathans.

This was the first vacation with my fiance' involved. There was a Hall in the mix, and it was interesting. This vacation was yet another stage in the transition to marriage. I was thinking about what he wanted to do, where he wanted to go. I wanted him to be my board game partner, the duo to my water slide inner tube.

It was strange because those roles were usually my parents or my best friend sister.

At first I struggled with this idea of "choosing" my family or my boyfriend. But being engaged has shown me a new side of things. I'm no longer feeling

as though I'm losing part of myself, of my Trevathan identity, by taking on this relationship. I feel like I'm bringing my two favorite aspects of life together, and it feels amazing.

I still got to do hair and makeup with my sister. I still snuggled on the couch with my mom and watched ridiculous Netflix shows. I still swam in the pool and got pumped for roller coasters with my daddy. Vacation was still vacation, and my family was still my family.

But this vacation was so much more. I eavesdropped on my sister and Cory talking on the balcony one night when they thought I was asleep. They talked about college and shared personal stories. They talked about me and their hobbies and their ideas, and I loved it. I watched them get excited about their preppy clothing stores, high five about amusement park rides and exchange looks of concern when I got car sick in between them (good lookin' out, guys. Sorry about that).

I stared with admiration (and laughed too, of course) as Cory competed with my family in Pictionary. My heart skipped a beat each time he picked up one of my sweet cousins and played with and took care of them. I loved hearing Cory and my mom talk while they cut onions for dinner, and I loved watching Cory and my dad wrestle and make fun of each other in the pool. I nearly cried from laughter as we made stupid videos while exploring the hotel, and I really did cry from laughter when we played laser tag.

The bottom line is that Cory is going to be my family in less than one year (and he essentially already is). Seeing him bond with my parents and sister and grandma and cousins and aunt and uncle, God. It all just makes my heart so full.

He's my best friend. Our date night was a highlight of the vacation. I loved spending an evening of bumper cars, blacklight golf, virtual rides and "gem mining" with him. We had a BLAST. But the best part of vacation was spending time as a family.

I wish I had been able to take off work for another week and spend time with my new extended family as well. I just love knowing that there are so many people who love us as a couple and whom we love as a couple. What more could someone ask for?

After spending a week in bliss, I hate having to spend time apart from Cory (and my family), but I take comfort in knowing that so many amazing people are just a phone call away. We're both very lucky.