The Best Thing I Bring Home From Vacation

I always think vacations are so funny because you go away thinking you’re just taking a break, but really you come home with a whole list of things you suddenly want in your house.

And I don’t mean the obvious stuff. Yes, I notice the hotel lobby. Yes, I’m looking at the bathroom stone and the restaurant lighting and the cute little outdoor chairs. I can’t help myself.

But the thing I really notice is the feeling.

Like how good it feels to sit outside in the morning with coffee and not be staring at a million things that need to be done. Or how everyone somehow gathers in the same spot without anyone planning it. Or how a room can be simple but still feel so warm and good and easy.

Sometimes I come home and think, I need more places to sit outside. Or better light. Or less clutter. Or a room that doesn’t feel like everyone has to stand on ceremony.

And sometimes I come home knowing exactly what I don’t want. I don’t want a house that feels too formal or too stiff. I don’t want pretty rooms that nobody uses. That makes me crazy.

Travel reminds me that home is not just about how it looks. It is about how you live in it, how your people move through it, where they sit, where they talk, where they stay too long.

That’s usually the best thing I bring back from a vacation. Not a souvenir, not a shell, not another photo on my phone, although obviously there are a lot of those.

It’s the reminder of how I want home to feel when real life starts again.