Today is the last day of my vacation. I took a week at a timeshare that is about 30 miles from my home. Some people thought that was a crazy idea, but it turned out great. My family, including both daughters and their families, came and went at various times during the week. I was the only one who actually had the week off work. Everyone was able to take advantage of the indoor swimming pool, the trail in the woods, eating out, and shopping one day or another. We even had one day when all eleven of us were there!
Besides feeling rested and happy, I have come away with a couple of realizations.
1. I don't ever actually relax and "do nothing" at home. I can curl up with a book and a glass of wine at the resort and completely lose myself in the wonder of the story, 100% relaxed. I can curl up with a book and a glass of wine at home, and it's nice, but everywhere around me there is something that seems to demand my attention: a dog wants in or out, I realize I have clothes or dishes that need to be washed, I look up and see dust on the floor that needs to be cleaned, etc.
2. It's great to have a job that you love, but it is even better to have a job that you can leave at work. I admit, I did go visit work one time during my vacation. I work with a lot of wonderful people who give me positive feedback. They seemed glad to see me (it's nice to be missed) but absolutely nothing came up in our conversations that would make me feel guilty about not being there, and there was no indication that a huge pile of work would be waiting for me when I got back because no one else would do it. That's not the way it has been in jobs past. I remember vacations where I worried about what was not getting done, or stressed about how I would manage to "catch up" on all my work when I got back, or the worst was when we would get phone calls from work with questions or concerns.
3. Little kids help you to see the "fun" in everything. We didn't take a bunch of toys to the resort and I was wondering how I was going to keep them entertained. I needn't have worried. They found joy in just running around someplace different. I had never known that opening and closing all the drawers in a place could be so exciting. The girls did find a Bible in one of the drawers. And I still don't know how Morgan managed to set the alarm on the stereo system to come blasting on at about 5am every morning, but at least it was good rock and roll music.
4. There is never enough time (or money) to do everything, but that's okay. Vacations can be exhausting as well as relaxing. What a paradox!
I had a great time.
No comments:
Post a Comment