Ah, precious vacation. Temporary escape from the pressures and myriad stresses of work… as well as “regular” life. This happened to be the first trip I’ve ever had the chance to take with not just my own immediate family, but with my brother, his family, and our mother; the idea of this kind of extended family vacation together long had a sentimental lure for me and I was thrilled we could finally do this together. After having been through much over the years, it felt especially hard-won. Of course we booked our family Thanksgiving in Jamaica several weeks before the economic crisis was on full boil… but if living in New York of late (if not the entire U.S.) has felt encumbered by a heavy, gray cloud of anxiety, it made me that much more ready to escape to bluer, sunnier skies.

And, we did. And, they were bluer, the skies. Or at least the clouds that rolled in were the puffier, innocuous kind. (And incidentally the family bonding part was, surprisingly, even better than I had fantasized). But just as the frustrations and worries of work and regular life were seeping out of me with each progressive dip in the pool and sip of pina colada, my older daughter Hannah and I opted to go kayaking. To hedge our bets against the not-entirely-tranquil Caribbean waves, we enlisted Sylvan, Jamaican Water Sportsman extraordinaire, to accompany us. By definition (read previous sentence), you would not think of a guy like Sylvan as especially Type-A. But as we finally found our kayaking groove, and began to exhale and enjoy the view, what did Sylvan have to say, out on these azure waters?

“We are so worried about you Americans and this economic situation!”

I felt our kayak rock a little harder, as I found myself incongruously discussing market conditions with my new Jamaica beach bum buddy, while also giving a cursory definition of “economic crisis” to my nearly 8-year-old.

In recent weeks, several journalists have asked me how we as “executive moms” are dealing with this new and apparently lingering reality, as executives, and as moms. I’m not sure that I loved how I answered what it all means for Hannah, out on the kayak. And actually I’m not so sure that any of us have the answer yet. Perhaps the best we can do is to try to keep navigating by paddling (which seems to be a pretty good strategy to avoid tipping over)… and hope the clouds don’t open up above us while we do.