For our fourth wedding anniversary, my husband and I went back to our honeymoon destination, St. Augustine, Florida. It was only the second time we’ve traveled without my son, and the first time was our honeymoon.
I was a single mom when I started dating my husband, so my son spent a lot of time with the both of us and still does. It was really important to me to know that the three of us would work well together as a family.
It has always been our intention to take more vacations as a couple, but when we have the opportunity to travel, we always choose to take a family vacation.
Our trip was 4 days long
I suggested taking a trip back to our honeymoon spot, then maybe a bigger trip for the fifth anniversary next year. I pitched my romantic travel idea as a way for us to practice for the big trip next year, but my husband didn’t need a lot of convincing. He agreed that a honeymoon repeat for our anniversary sounded perfect.
We took a long four-day trip at around the same time of year we took our honeymoon four years ago. We did some romantic couple things, such as walking on the beach, eating at our honeymoon restaurant, and ordering some cupcakes that reminded us of our wedding cake.
I missed my son
Since this was only our second trip without my son, it just felt odd by day two. I didn’t want to say anything to my husband and risk coming off as if I wasn’t having a good time. So when he told me on the same day that he wished our son were there, I was relieved that he felt the same way. But more than that, it made me feel lucky all over again, to have found a husband who loves my son as much as I do and is truly a third parent to him.
As a single mom, I began to give up hope that I would find someone good enough for the both of us – for myself and my son. But I found a partner that I adore and that cares for me – and that genuinely cares for my son too. Remembering this and seeing this in him is so much more romantic to me than the fancy dinners and things like special-order cupcakes.
I think it was healthy for us to experience that feeling together
My son is entering middle school, and my husband and I are starting to talk more about what life will be like for us after he graduates. On our vacation, we realized how much his absence would hit us one day.
We took our feelings as an opportunity to talk about how to best move forward. I think that while I feel immensely blessed to have a family that actually likes hanging out together, we also need to put more effort into carving out moments for our marriage.
I actually think it’s really important for our family to keep our marriage strong. I know part of why it’s so difficult for us to take that couple of times is because we’re simply not used to it.
By the end of our long weekend, we had acquired too many souvenirs for my son and were happy to go home. But we also had a really good time overall, even without the whole family there. My husband and I have both agreed that we need to make more of an effort for more small trips like this one, to reconnect, but also to keep our family strong.
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