As I write this, Cinda is exactly where she should be: the middle of nowhere. She has taken a much-needed vacation, which puts her a couple weeks ahead of me for the year. Now, before you think I’m downtrodden and bereft, think again. I’m well stocked with vacation days, and my coworkers have no problem with me taking them. (I believe, in fact, that I’ve detected a pleading note from certain quarters lately.) But there always seems to be a good reason to stay behind, doesn’t there? I’ve turned staying put into an art form. Instead of truly getting away, I delude myself into believing that it’s enough to indulge myself on weekends—like my “vacation” to the bookstore last Saturday.
I usually head to the bookstore to get away from people for a little while. The joke was on me this time—it was crawling with customers. (It seems people like to shop after holidays. Clearly, I need to get out more.) I’m not the eavesdropper sort, but in a store that packed with people, it’s impossible not to overhear some conversation. I was struck by how many of them were about vacation plans. In Periodicals, a couple browsing the international magazines commented about how a cover photo reminded them of some exotic European city. In the children’s section, a mother helped her preschooler pick out a pair of sticker books, “one for now and one for later,” for their road trip to Napa Valley the next day. But it was the conversation overheard as I was browsing idly through the craft books, near the travelogues, that really got my attention. A young child’s voice piped up cheerfully, asking, “What’s that?”
“That’s Hawaii,” his mother replied casually. “That’s where we’re going next year.”
“Can I walk there?” the child asked.
“No, we’ll fly again,” was the equally casual response.
Aside from my shock at the sheer number of people strolling through this packed store who obviously made it a point to get away, it was the simple, matter-of-fact nature of the conversation that penetrated my consciousness. Her inflection—next year—made it clear that another, just as impressive trip was already in the works or had just concluded. The child took it just as much for granted. It was vacation time, and they were going someplace fun this year, and Hawaii next year, and clearly there would be a trip the year after and had been before. These are people that know how to take vacations. It made me realize how long it’s been since I went all out and took a vacation; not just time out of the office but still home, furtively checking emails and watching the phone lights, but a real stretch away from everything to rest and recharge and completely break the routine.
When was the last time you took a vacation?
Read the rest at ProjectConnections.