When taking a vacation that may not feel like a vacation I have a daily routine to remind myself. I don’t shave. I get up look in the mirror and say “you are on vacation, no need to shave today”. My graying, scraggly beard serves as a constant reminder, every time I look in the mirror or rub my chin, “hey I am on vacation!” I knew last week was going to be one of those.
Took one of those “working” vacations last week, you know the kind, where when you get back you need to take a vacation from your vacation to recoup. We did have a few days for a family reunion and some time eating birthday cake with my father in law. The remainder of my time off was spent working on the house we are remolding, cleaning the one we live in, attending an auction of my grandmother’s home, and moving the heavy items my sister and I bought from the auction site to a garage only to reload them to take them home the next day. All of this done with daytime temperatures reaching the upper 90’s and low 100’s. Add to that 23 plus hours of travel time and a hotel air-conditioner that didn’t work. Some would say not much of a vacation.
During last week’s hectic times there were memories made. Some good ones: making progress on our hobby house, pool time with grand kids, reacquainting with more distant family members, adult size tricycle races, and of course more squirt guns than people. Some sad: hearing of an uncle that is ill, of family member going through divorce, seeing another family member with serious health issues, and of course selling grandmothers possessions evidence of a decision to make her stay at the nursing home final.
There were other memories relived some good, some funny, some hard ones. Laughter at old family jokes, tears as we remembered some of the sadder times. Scores of memories brought to life as family members looked through Grandma’s auction items. There was laughter at discovering my high school graduation picture in with items to be sold, sadness as I handled items that my grandfather once used.
Saturday afternoon in the heat of the afternoon the water in the hotel pool was still and ice cold, no one else present, time for a final dip. The only sounds I could hear were my own light splashing as I slipped through the water, my deep breathing as I filled my lungs, and the voices of my memories both recent and distant. Then to the room for a shower, wiping the fog from the mirror I lathered up and shaved, vacation was over.
Last week I shared time, food, laughter, tears, and work with the people I love most. It was not Disney World but it was a pretty good vacation!
David
