Amanda Lamb: Vacation all I ever wanted

It's a line from a Go-Go's song. If you don't know who the Go-Go's are, no worries. They were a sugary sweet eighties pop band whose lyrics, when embedded in your brain like a high fever, you couldn't seem to shake. You would find yourself singing even the most annoying lines for hours after turning off the radio (or ejecting the cassette.)

The song is actually about a peaceful two-week sojourn away from a troubled relationship, time spent alone, time to reflect. For most of us, vacation is anything but peaceful and relaxing. It is about packing everything your family might need for a week, loading a car beyond what seems humanly possible, fighting holiday traffic, and putting up with the various needs of four travelers stuffed amongst their stuff for several hundred miles.

I remind myself every year that the vacation begins after these daunting tasks are done, that it really is about a state of mind, and not about making sure you have every last item you might need during the upcoming week. Things go wrong on vacation - like booking the ferry reservations from New Jersey to Delaware instead of the other way around, a hotel reservation in the wrong location that can't be refunded, unexpected weather that threatens to dampen or even cancel fireworks celebrations. 

But you can't get hung up on these things. In order to get to what I call "vacation moments" - a belly laugh, treating your child to ice cream from the same place you got ice cream as a child, a ride in a kayak on a perfectly temperate blue-sky day - you have to be willing to put aside all the Chevy Chase moments. In other words, you have to look for the peace amid the craziness in order to find the vacation you really want.

I'll let you know if I find it ...