Sunlight

So it has been so long since I logged into Typepad that Firefox was like, Typewhat? 

Not a good sign.

I went on vacation is what I did.  A gen-u-wine, no obligation, not on the schedule of others Vacation.  It was utterly good. 

Travel around a great deal, but you know, it is so often for something, for a friend, for family, for an event.  And it is not that I do not enjoy these things, because I really do, but they are not spirit-recharging.  Too tightly scheduled for that.  Or sometimes just too much fun of the body-depleting variety.

(Actual conversation, more or less. 
S:  This is this great jetlag remedy T gave me.  Take some to try.
J:  When I am leaving on a jet plane?
S:  No, its fantastic for hangover.

Pause.

J:  Dude, I'm only ever hung over with you, why don't you hang onto it.)

Maybe it is the two weeks part, because the last time I felt this good about a break it was in the summer of 2002, when I spent a week on Cape Cod, drove to the airport and then spent a week on Kauai (which is an impossible and gorgeous place.  You should go.)  But mostly I think it was the company - a friend came to stay, one of my favorite people in the world, and we just ran around and looked at stuff with remarkably little planning from this control freak.  I think I made ONE reservation and that only because it needed to be done weeks ahead of time.  Every other day was kind of, what shall we do?  And then, we did that.  And made some lunch.  And looked at the undersides of leaves.  And the fall of light.  I learned, more or less, how to skim a rock.  Brilliant.

And since then I've been sort of staring at the wall and getting back in sync with the rest of my reality and thinking about what I've been doing and why it is good, and what that says about what I HAVEN'T been doing and wondering why my pace is so often steady to the point of plodding, when, slow, slow, quick, quick, slow has so many advantages, and when the fuck was the last time I turned a cartwheel anyway?

This is actual thinking, mind you, where there's a lot of spaced out time and things occasionally bubble to the surface and explain themselves to you full blown, and not so much sub vocalization.  Sub-vocalization, I learned a long time ago, is just self loathing with your mom's voice.  My mom's voice.   The truth is, actual thinking can look a lot like slacking off.  To the ignorant eye.

Anyway, shall be considering what, if anything, to say about the vacation that is still respectful of the privacy of all involved.   You know how I get thematic about something, so silence is probably unlikely.  Nice to see you again.      

Comments

[lanea]

Ahhhhh, vacation. I want another--mine didn't take. I'm glad you had such a good time with your friend.

[gwynivar]

vakashun - well look there. I can't even SPELL it correctly, let alone take one. (do we take them, or go ON them? I'm never sure which is correct.)
Anyways, I comment urgently to warn you away from a cartwheel! Don't do it! I thought a while back that it had been quite some time since I'd done a basic simple small sommersault, and thought I'd teach my daughter how when she was four. I used to be quite the agile gal, handstands & what-not able.
Simple sommersault... neck and back injuries. It was a week before I was anything like normal again - the first 2 days I could barely turn my head. Not quite so agile in real life as in memory I guess. A cartwheel? ya, I don't think so. I remember them fondly, and move on.

[donna lee]

I didn't save enough time to take a full two weeks so I've had to make do with long weekends. I've tried to do the same thing, no plans just being. It's a wonderful feeling and even a little bit helps. Now I am planning to do this regularly. Everyone needs true down time.

[bibliotecaria]

I actually read a magazine article about vacations that said you need a two week minimum to get any real benefit from a vacation.

Clearly I need to save up some leave time. I've yet to achieve a vacation like this. Like you, most of my trips are for visiting purposes and they are not always as relaxing as they could be.

[Lee Ann]

I'm about to do the vacation at home thing...

Been thinking about cartwheels too. Also, somersaults. So did you actually do a cartwheel? I'm hoping it's like riding a bike...you look wobbly and silly but chances are you're not going to fall on your head doing it again after a long time not doing it. Because I really don't want to fall on my head.

[denny Mcmillan]

it's a beautiful summer day out there. Enjoy.

bring jet lag drugs to SOAR please.

ummmm for my friends, I don't drink that much. Thanks.

[Tsarina of Tsocks]

Same to you, darlin'. Been missing you pretty bad.

[rams]

You skip stones! Do you also enjoy breaking the crust of creme brulee and sinking your hand into bags of lentils?

[Mel]

I just heard a thing on the radio today about a study finding that idleness is beneficial for our mental processes. I'll try to see if I can find out more, but it's a sentiment I wholeheartedly believe in. JoVE actually has a quote from Virginia Wolff along those lines on her blog today.

[Anne]

I'm glad you had a really great vacation. Meanwhile, I bought Jessica's Lendrum wheel and I'm learning. Ack!

[Lizbon]

Oh I'm so glad you did that. And really thinking that I need to do exactly the same thing. All my friends have other plans (or other problems, or both) this summer, just as they did last summer, and maybe I need to figure out a vacation I'd actually enjoy doing solo...

[Marji]

self-loathing with your mom's voice. Apt. Well said. Something to definitely avoid. Thinking is much more productive. And who cares what it looks like. Don't let others define you.

[Jocelyn]

Welcome back. Two weeks sounds about perfect; enough time to clear the snarky voice out, and let some real thoughts develop. Enough time to relax. Good stuff...

[Marin]

I'm doing a little Juno dance as we speak.

Congratulations on the type of vacation that almost feels like a sin. I mean, for those who believe in sin.

And I've never been able to skip a rock, so... jealous.

[Abby Franquemont]

Heh, and indeed, I haven't commented here in so long my cached info /remembered crap was gone from Firefox too. But the real reason I'm commenting is... WHAT IS THE NAME OF THAT JETLAG STUFF? Because I accepted some that I was handed one time, and it was indeed totally functional and I don't know what it was.

[JoVE]

My dad had a whole theory about why 2 weeks vacation is better than 1. Something about needing a big chunk of that first week just to wind down and then you need to actually be wound down for a bit. Glad you had a good time.

On your "thinking" thoughts. I have been cleaning out a few shelves and happened to come across this Virginia Woolf quote that I cut out of the paper (must have been eons ago because it is clearly from the UK version of The Guardian).

"It is in our idleness, in our dreams, that the submerged truth sometimes comes to the top"

You aren't the only one with a gremlin with your mother's voice.

[Jessica]

Glad you got some time to relax!! Well deserved I'm sure!

[claudia]

Only good news over here today! Nice to have you back.

[Mrs.Q]

Welcome back! Just had me one of those kinds of real vacations...and mmmmm! Feeling all re-balanced and re-rooted and just darned GOOD. And there was lots of watching the light and looking at leaves, too. (And smelling trees. Ponderosa pines in the sun? Smell like vanilla.) Yay you!

[Stephanie]

Good to see you back! I'd been wondering what you were up to...

[Lynn]

Well, nice to see you, too! Yeah, vacation, lounging, sky-staring. Good for the soul. Good for what ails ya.

Not so good when you hafta come back to reality, says one who's just back from two weeks of vacating.