The ocean breeze blew softly through the open car window, and instantly filled the car with the sweet scent of ice cream mixed with that salty sea smell I had always associated with the beach. I felt a tiny nudge in my elbow, and heard the shrill voice of my sister yelling, “When are we getting there?”. My parents were thoroughly enjoying themselves and decided not to respond to her question, having heard it several times on this very journey. Instead, they decided to play a slow tune- their current favorite song “Let Her Go”. My dad sung along off-key to the melody while my mom bobbed her head up and down to the beat. To add to this cacophony, my brother crunched on some Fruit Loops while playing games on my iPod.

The car pulled to a halt and everyone stumbled out. We gaped at the view. The gorgeous palm trees danced as the seagulls haphazardly scattered across the bright blue sky. The sand enveloped my toes and several grains of the sand floated around me. The waves crashed against the shore as the tide began to ebb. We all stood huddled together in a circle and watched the pinks, oranges and yellows begin to merge together in the sky above us. An ombre effect began to take place with the neon orange sun as its center.

As we watched the sun set, we started to talk. At first, conversation seemed awkward. How would our conversation in this moment measure up to what we had just witnessed? But, then, out of nowhere it just began to flow. We talked about our memories- all of our past summers. Remember that time we were in France and we went to that one supermarket every day? Or that time Grandpa refused to eat anything but soup in Italy? Oh, and when we lifted Jace up in a pool in Australia? Our laughter filled the otherwise silent night.

In all honestly, our vacations can never attain “perfection”. We’re always going to have some small fights, we’re never going to agree on where we should grab dinner and we’re never going to come to a consensus on whether we should go shopping or visit historical sites. But, that’s completely fine. At least our vacations provide my entire family with an opportunity to strengthen our bond. We become even closer than we were and learn so much more about one another. And so, while our vacations might never be “perfect”, they sure are memorable.