Everyone thinks that going on a vacation with extended family will be a bonding experience, a way to bring the family under one roof for a couple of days. Who wouldn't say no to a week in cabin in the mountains of northern Georgia with grandparents, uncle, aunt, cousin, sisters, and parents? We had a list of things we wanted to do: from horse back riding to tubing down a river, we were all loooking forward to spending time together as a family. However, that was not how it turned out.
The summer of 2007 is never mentioned in the Carpenter household, and for good reason. For the seven days we spent together, all 10 of us passed around a horrible 24 hour stomach bug. My sister was sick before we left, and she gave it to everyone. One by one, the virus trickled down and infected each one of us. Whomever was sick for the day was forced to stay behind in bed, and when it was either me or one of my sisters, my mom insisted that she stay behind to take care of us. Needless to say, we did not get the quality family time we were looking for. Our only saving grace was that this bug was literally only 24 hours. So, even when a man was down, he or she was only down for 24 hours, and was able to partake in daily activities and adventures a day later.
We learned our lesson: it has been almost eight years, and our entire family has never gone on vacation for an extended amount of time again.
