36-Year-Old Summer Vacation

Can a 36-year-old still have a summer vacation? As a university professor, it’s possible. At 36, you can still have days off without working and enjoy winter and summer breaks.

What does a 36-year-old’s summer vacation look like? In May, when summer vacation just started, my daughter still had to go to school, so every day I only needed to get up early to take her to school, and then I would go to the park to run, sweat, and then go to the office to watch YouTube and reply to emails. In the afternoons, I had to pick up my daughter from school, and at home, there was a baby who needed to be taken care of, but fortunately, my in-laws were at home to help me. One day, I felt that our dog hadn’t exercised in a long time, so I took him to the park and ran with him for an hour. It was very happy.

At the beginning of June, our whole family went on a Disney trip, and although Orlando was hot and humid, I was still very happy. Traveling is tiring, but being able to leave happy memories, I think it’s all worth it. Starting in June, my daughter’s school was on summer break, so my life became taking care of my daughter and my baby son at home, helping my in-laws share some of the burden. The weather in Westchester hadn’t gotten too hot yet, and occasionally, I could still go to the garden to work. Seeing my own small garden become more beautiful day by day, I was very happy in my heart.

At the end of June, our whole family went on a trip to Catskill, reunited with old friends, and had a great time. After returning home, I could also swim with my daughter in the pool at home. It felt like a good life, and that’s all there is to it.

But good times didn’t last long. Soon after returning from the trip, my father-in-law and wife fell ill with food poisoning and a high fever. Then I started to catch a cold and cough, and even infected my son. Our dog suddenly fell ill after being picked up from a friend’s home. Now, as I write this diary, the dog is in so much pain that it hurts to go up and down the stairs. I took the dog to the hospital twice, but we still couldn’t diagnose the cause of the illness. Now, at night, in order to ensure that the dog doesn’t have to go upstairs and feels accompanied, I can only sleep on the first floor by myself. As I write this diary, I’m accompanying our dog on the first floor — because the sofa on the first floor is uncomfortable for my waist, I woke up at 4 am and couldn’t sleep.

It feels like after returning from this trip, my life, which has always been smooth sailing, has suddenly taken a different turn. But I think this is life, and this is my 36-year-old summer vacation. What’s the difference between a 36-year-old’s summer vacation and those at 30 and 20 years old? I think the biggest difference is that you start to realize you have more responsibilities, and you need to support your entire family by yourself. Whether it’s big things, small things, or daily trivial matters, you have to handle everything. You have more roles, and before you were 20, you didn’t have a family, so you only needed to be yourself, and summer vacation life was simple. You only needed to consider your own life every day, and although there might be some small worries, overall, it was still a carefree life. Starting from your 30s, you had some responsibilities (my daughter was born), but at that time, you were still young, your body was still good, and although there were many trivial things at home, you still had a lot of free time. However, you started to feel that your own time was becoming less and less. What about a 36-year-old’s summer vacation? The number of family members is increasing (my son was born last year), life is becoming busier, and I’ve taken on more responsibilities at work. I also feel that I should make further progress in my research, but I haven’t found a way yet. My family and pets are gradually getting older, and our two cats are already 13 years old. The dog is also 11 years old, and I still remember the times when the dog was less than a year old, and I would accompany him to run and walk every day. So at this time, if everything is going smoothly, a 36-year-old you might not feel much different from usual, life is busier, but you can still find some free time. However, just like what happened in the past two weeks, you might suddenly need to deal with family members and pets getting sick, which makes you feel very anxious. Especially for pets, you suddenly realize that they’re old, and the time left to accompany you is not much. Once you think about it, you’ll instantly feel sad in your heart.

When will this summer vacation end? This summer vacation has just passed more than half (62%), and there’s still the other half left. In the remaining time, I think I need to be able to face all difficulties calmly. I hope that my 36-year-old summer vacation will still be a good memory — it can’t be as carefree as summer vacations at 20 or 30 years old, but it will definitely be mixed with more sweet and bitter experiences. However, isn’t that what life is all about, experiencing all kinds of flavors? So, whether it’s good or bad, happy or painful, as long as it’s an experience that can leave memories, in my opinion, it’s all important, and I should be grateful for being able to experience all these things and have all these memories.

However, writing to this point, I still have a small wish, hoping that the rest of the summer vacation can be smoother, and the dog’s illness can be diagnosed and treated as soon as possible. I hope that all family members can recover. I hope that our family’s Cancun trip in two weeks can proceed as scheduled and leave more happy memories.

However, no matter what, as a 36-year-old who has reached adulthood, I will continue to work hard!