Managing multiple schedules is never easy. When there are several people, all of whom have varying priorities, and having to manage multiple schedules themselves, how can everyone get on the same page? It's like trying to play an entire game of chess in the first move, or eating an entire meal with one bite. It seems an impossible mountain to traverse. Why is it that vacations seldom seem to be that. If anything there is more stress, more scheduling, more budgeting than ever in our normal daily lives. Why would anybody do this? What would ever make us think that this is a desirable thing to do?
I'm at a point where I'm starting to remember the feeling of getting home from vacation. You know what I'm talking about, the comfort of the familiar smells, sights and sounds of your own space. Being able to buy, store, and cook the food that you want and need without reference to anyone else. Not worrying about discussing your plans with anyone but your living companion if you have one. All of these are the drawbacks of travel.
On the other hand, I will get to see relatives that I haven't seen in several years. I am about to see friends that I haven't seen in nearly ten years, an opportunity that may not come again for a few years. I also get to spend my days on the lake that was my childhood playground. It has been divine to drive out on the boat, park, watch the turtles, smell the lake smells. It is such a different smell from that of a river or creek. It is a feeling and smell I search for all the rest of the year, but never find again until I come back home.
The grass as well is nothing like the grass I have at my home. It is soft and lush. Where I live, the grass is thick and hard. If I grab the wrong kind it will cut right through my skin. The plants are about the same, but the temperature is about 10 degrees cooler than where I live. It all makes for a soft green and blue cushion of comfort. Would I still want to come home so much if it were a hard, dry place? Probably. Home is home. I'm just lucky enough to have my home be on the water.
I see visitors that have rented cottages around the lake, and they are taking pictures of their kids playing in the water. My parents did that too, but not that often. It is just something that we took for granted. It was just a regular part of the day. Get up, eat breakfast, go fishing, eat a snack, go swimming, eat lunch, swim some more, eat dinner, swim even more still, go to bed, rest, repeat. When it is something that happens everyday, how is it remarkable at all. It isn't, and yet others step into our environment and do the things we always do, and it is to them. That is when we should stop and reflect on the possibility of our ordinary, every day events as being vacations in the making. These are exactly the things that others will pay to come and do because it is separate from their regular lives.
For me this isn't a place where I come to do something new. I come here to find my base, to recharge my center and remember who I am. I will try to carry that with me back to the life I have chosen to live. Perhaps I need to reflect on if that is the right choice if I can't remember the roots of myself after a year of living. Is it like that for everyone? Don't think me strange if I come up to you on the street and ask you what you do for a living, and if you ever lose yourself in the comings and goings of daily life. I think Joan Baez had it when she said, "...Something is lost and something is gained in living every day."
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