While enjoying the quiet retired life in Brazil this spring, Katia and I decided it was a good idea to fly all three of our sons down to Brazil during our last month for some renewed family time. We were both getting a bit tired of the daily routine; we genuinely missed the kids, so why not recreate another family vacation just like in the past?
The timing favored a trip as Alan had just completed his academic semester, Frank was recently discharged from the Marine Corps, and John finished the school year teaching in Las Vegas. It was unanimous that spending a month together was a great idea, overdue, and even better in Brazil. I bought the boy’s airline tickets, rented the multi-bedroom Airbnb’s, and habitually planned out the vacation routes to maximize the fun. We decided to be “mobile”, see a swath of Brazil (Santos, Tira Dentes, Rio de Janeiro, etc.), and work in the obligatory Miguez family visit to Belo Horizonte.
While we have had several wonderful “family trips” abroad over the years (Mom and Dad taking the dependent small kids to experience a variety of family-friendly new wonders), the new wrinkle on this adventure was that Mom and Dad were now in their 60’s and all three boys’ were now 20-something Millennials, financially independents full of piss and vinegar. It had been several years since we had all lived under the same roof. Katia and my “parental mindset” of planning daily kids’ activities, buying juice boxes if the boys got thirsty, and “tucking ‘em” into bed by 9 p.m. came into direct contrast with the lifestyles of three healthy Alpha Males in beach paradises like Copacabana and Ipanema. Katia’s muscle memory of cooking the bacon and eggs for 10- and 12-year-old hungry boys every morning at 8 a.m. usually clashed with the fact that the boys had likely just gotten home from the Rio clubs a few hours before and were going to be sleeping it off at least until the late afternoon. Climbing, surfing, gym time, and Cervejarias.
About a week into it, I’d say Katia and I came to grips with the fact that our babies were now men, autonomous, and lived like men, and we just were not going to be able to keep up with them. The boys, to their credit, acquiesced to some of the “parental planning,” and we all adjusted to the new reality. Fortunately, we found several opportunities to have fun together and create new memories. Hell, the family vacation was so much fun that my two oldest decided to stay in Rio for a second month on their own even after we’d returned to the US.
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