It is the season for vacations. I know that because in some of those pews where families habitually sit (“Someone’s sitting in my pew!”), there is no one there. Normally that’s worrisome, but not in the summer. I just figure that it’s their week for vacation.

E.L. Hubbard, an essayist from the past, wrote “No man needs a vacation so much as the man who just had one.” There is more than just a grain of truth in that statement.

Everyone needs a break from the “getting up and going to work every day” syndrome. That’s why, during the summer when the children are out of school, parents plan vacations. The family leaves its comfortable home, where sleeping and all other regular activities are easiest.

They spend hours packing luggage, thinking of itineraries, tying up loose ends at work, figuring out what to do with the dog, and arranging to pay for expensive accommodations that won’t be nearly as comfortable as the place they leave.

Dad makes sure the car is in good shape and everybody packs themselves in and they drive many hours to “take a break.” Daddy worries about how to get there while momma puts into practice her best drill sergeant voice to keep the troops, I mean the kids, in formation in the back seat.

“No, we will not be there soon and stop bothering your sister. You are acting as if you’ve never been anywhere!”

Actually, that’s the way it used to be. These days, there is probably not a peep out of the children. They are all too busy playing video games on their individual cellphones and, besides, if they wanted to talk to each other, they would probably text.

Just hope that they brought their chargers. Who wants to be without a cellphone a minute or two, much less a whole week’s vacation!

Vacations. In our area of the country, people most often choose some variation of Florida and its beaches or theme parks or they choose to head north to the hills and mountains of North Carolina or Tennessee.

Basically, families can either bake on the sands of the beaches, stand in the lines of Disney-Whatever, or enjoy the caravans of cars that poke their ways through the Smokey Mountains. All three have their pros and cons.

It’s sort of ironic that, those who choose the beaches, seem to jump from the frying pan into the fire. What I mean is that we leave the humid and hot weather of South Georgia and go to even higher temperatures and hot sands of the beaches. Of course I’m speaking like most men do. Most men my age have already spent plenty of money on dermatology and have been told to stay out of the sun!

If the family is full of children, forget what I just wrote. They love building sand castles and wading in the shallow and warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. I can remember when I liked doing that.

Children also like the theme parks of Orlando. I’ve been to them all and will mention a favorite phrase for curmudgeons like me: “Been there, done that!”

One of our families just returned from the Smokey Mountains and really had a good time. The daddy of the group spoke of the absence of gnats and said it was worth it. It doesn’t take whole lot to please some people, but I might feel the same way.

Vacations are fun and I think, if you can afford one, you should take one. I said, “If you can afford one!”