Ron Goch
The Telios Group
Email Ron

April 19, 2024

My wife frequently gives me a hard time about being “the planner” of our family, and wishes I was more of a “go with the flow” kind of guy.

Several years ago, my wife took over the reigns of our family vacation “planning, ” and asked me to just “go with the flow.”

I agreed and since that vacation don’t get involved much unless she asks for my input, and even then I usually respond, “Whatever you and the kids would like to do.”

Well, I finally did it, and believe it or not, mostly on my own; all but the packing that is.

I “went with the flow” and set out on a spur of the moment trip with our youngest daughter.

I even did it backwards. First, I purchased tickets to a football game several states away, reserved a hotel room that included an indoor water park I knew our daughter would enjoy (okay, me too!), and then booked our airlines tickets.

By the time I completed the overnight accommodations and purchased our airlines ticket, we had just two hours to pack and drive to the airport.

The fun was just beginning.

I ran upstairs with a big smile on my face and two carry-on luggage bags.

My wife asked, “What did you do?” She knew from the ear-to-ear smile on my face that I was up to something.

I quickly explained, and then she asked, “So when does your flight leave?”

I laughed and said, “Oh, we have plenty of time. We leave in two hours. Could you help me pack?”

My wife – who I think was actually proud to hear of my spontaneous move – laughed and said, “Sure, I’d be happy to help you pack, ” and before I had my bag packed, she had our daughter’s things ready to go.

Well, we made the trip and I must admit that I had a blast.

The quality time with our daughter was worth the trip alone, but the fact we only planned the football game, and the rest of our schedule was essentially dictated by whatever my daughter wanted to do at that very moment, kept a constant smile on each of our faces.

As might be expected, the water park easily dominated the schedule.

We didn’t “plan” the trip, but we did “plan” to have fun, and we had a great time.

We laughed constantly. Every day and moment was a surprise because we didn’t have any idea what we’d do next. All we knew was that we’d enjoy the moment whatever we chose to do, and we did.

We “went with the flow, ” and we didn’t get to bed before 1 am each evening. One night, we even had ice cream at 10 pm.

This prompted our seven-year-old daughter to say, “I like going on trips with you, Daddy.” I said, “Why is that?” She said, “Because you don’t stick to a schedule like Mommy does. She tries to keep my bed time the same and there’s no way she’d let me eat ice cream this late.”

We laughed, and I said, “Well. Enjoy it, because when we get home, you’ll be back on Mommy’s schedule and you know that won’t include ice cream at 10 pm.”

If you’re a planner like me, I highly recommend you take an unplanned trip. If it’s anything like the one me and my daughter enjoyed, you’ll be very thankful you did.

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Ron Goch, The Telios Group
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April 19, 2024

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