The Day I Stopped Trying to “Make It a Day”

I’m not really a schedule person.
Never have been.
I don’t wake up thinking “we must see X, Y, and Z.”
I wake up thinking:

“Okay. What feels possible today?”

Because traveling with a child is not about checking boxes —
it’s about reading the vibe like a weather report.

On this particular day, the vibe said:

• Sleep was light

• Feelings were big

• Pace needed to be soft

So instead of:

“We need to go see the famous thing because we’re here!”

I went with:

“We actually don’t need to do anything impressive today.”

We walked slowly.
We stopped for snacks before anyone got hungry-sad.
We sat on a bench and talked about cloud shapes and if birds have best friends.
We wandered into a tiny shop and touched every sticker.
We found joy in the smallest, quietest corners of the day.

And somewhere in there —
it hit me:

The day wasn’t boring.
It was good.

Not “Instagram-good.”
Us-good.

And that’s the kind of good that lasts.

It turns out “making memories” isn’t something you plan.
It’s something you notice.