Something to Do
I worked the entire weekend, worked twelve hour days on both Saturday and Sunday. Today I spent the day doing nothing. Or rather, in comparison to my normal schedule, almost nothing. It's incredibly difficult for me to relax because I tend to think I should be doing something all the time. I have a hard time stopping and breathing. However, I have forced relaxation upon myself. My first vacation since the winter holidays is here.
Several people asked me last week and over this past weekend, "So, where are you going for your vacation?" Hmm. How about nowhere? The biggest thing I want to do this week is spend lots of time with my family. My two boys are growing so quickly and they are so full of personality. I feel simultaneously happy and sad when I'm carefully questioned, "So, you don't have to go to work today? Right?" Once I reassure them for the umpteenth time that I'm not going to work and they have me at their mercy, they howl with glee and jump all over the furniture. Fifteen minutes later, "Are you sure you don't have to go to work?"
We had a couple of good wrestling matches this afternoon where they tag-teamed me and I lost. I was really trying to win but one jumped on my head and the other elbowed me in the stomach. They high-fived each other afterwards.
They also notice many things I don't. Today, driving through downtown, they pointed out to me the airplane circling with a huge banner attached. "Hey mom, it's an airplane pulling a gigantic 'Snakes on a Plane' poster." This was profoundly exciting to them although neither one wants to go see the movie. "It's too scary for us and you too, Mommy." I just kept reflecting on how my eyesight is so poor that I couldn't even discern exactly what was on the banner floating behind the airplane.
My youngest tends to shut down tough conversations about the potty chair by hilariously declaring, "I don't want to talk about it!" He also uses this phrase when talking about bathing and brushing his teeth. Let's hope he changes his mind about all this for the sake of his future wife.
I'm sure I'll get out to the beach with the kids and to a couple of bookstores and cafes by myself, but I am not planning on going anywhere this week that requires a plane trip. Come to think of it, I have some other rather unorthodox vacation destinations in mind.
Destination Numero Uno: My bed. Sure, I see my bed on a daily basis. I sleep in it every night. But, it's been a long time since I've been able to lounge in bed for a few uninterrupted hours with a nice cup of jasmine tea and a deliciously decadent novel. I'm trying to schedule this destination for Friday. Despite the fact that I didn't have to go to work today and didn't have to be anywhere at all, I still got up at 6:00 this morning. I figure that by Friday I'll mentally have chilled out enough to be able to sleep in and accomplish the tea/novel thing.
Destination Two: Getting up at 6 a.m. inadvertently led me to my second choice locale, the living room couch. I first decided to go to the gym since I figured exercising would be incredibly productive and energizing. I do want to get more exercise this week, however, 6 am is a bit early for me and exercise. Plus, I already felt a bit guilty for not staying in bed longer. So, I said no to the gym and yes to vegetating on the couch with the TV.
I engaged in some channel surfing, mainly wondering if Ann Curry is annoyed that Meredith Viera is getting the top job on the Today show. Ann has worked hard at Today. I wonder why the top brass doesn't think she deserved to be the new "Katie Couric"?
Finally, I settled on watching music videos on MTV and VH1. Early morning is the only time either station really plays music videos anyway so I got to see all of the latest soft-core porn, I mean, videos. After seeing Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack", Nelly Furtado's "Promiscuous", Cassie's "Me and You" and the queen of them all, Pussycat Doll's "Buttons", all within a half hour time frame, I felt like I needed to go sit in front of a fan to cool off or else go attempt to wake my husband up. Fortunately (or unfortunately?) for my snoring other half, my eldest son woke up and wanted breakfast and cartoons. Nothing like a chatty five-year old and some Barney to kill any sense of desire that may have been sparked.
Le Troisieme: Correspondence. Ok, ok. Perhaps this isn't really truly a destination but I have a lot of folks I need to write to. I miss that feeling of getting a beautiful hand-written letter from a friend. I loved getting letters so much that I became a huge letter writer back in the days before email. Now, I have a list of people I am behind on sending letters or cards to, namely a couple of girlfriends who are pregnant, or moving, have just bought houses or are otherwise in transition! Plus, my sister's 40th birthday is coming up. I'm going to take the time to write to everyone this week. Of course, wouldn't it just be the stars aligning if folks somehow decided to write me as well and I got some nice, detailed emails from friends this week, telling me all that's going on in their lives?
Nothing to do certainly turns into something in short order. It's not doing "nothing" but more changing my priorities and shifting to the things I need to find more time to do. It's doing them more frequently, not just when I'm on vacation for a week. What I need to figure out is how to retain the elements of vacation that I enjoy when work starts back up again.
Several people asked me last week and over this past weekend, "So, where are you going for your vacation?" Hmm. How about nowhere? The biggest thing I want to do this week is spend lots of time with my family. My two boys are growing so quickly and they are so full of personality. I feel simultaneously happy and sad when I'm carefully questioned, "So, you don't have to go to work today? Right?" Once I reassure them for the umpteenth time that I'm not going to work and they have me at their mercy, they howl with glee and jump all over the furniture. Fifteen minutes later, "Are you sure you don't have to go to work?"
We had a couple of good wrestling matches this afternoon where they tag-teamed me and I lost. I was really trying to win but one jumped on my head and the other elbowed me in the stomach. They high-fived each other afterwards.
They also notice many things I don't. Today, driving through downtown, they pointed out to me the airplane circling with a huge banner attached. "Hey mom, it's an airplane pulling a gigantic 'Snakes on a Plane' poster." This was profoundly exciting to them although neither one wants to go see the movie. "It's too scary for us and you too, Mommy." I just kept reflecting on how my eyesight is so poor that I couldn't even discern exactly what was on the banner floating behind the airplane.
My youngest tends to shut down tough conversations about the potty chair by hilariously declaring, "I don't want to talk about it!" He also uses this phrase when talking about bathing and brushing his teeth. Let's hope he changes his mind about all this for the sake of his future wife.
I'm sure I'll get out to the beach with the kids and to a couple of bookstores and cafes by myself, but I am not planning on going anywhere this week that requires a plane trip. Come to think of it, I have some other rather unorthodox vacation destinations in mind.
Destination Numero Uno: My bed. Sure, I see my bed on a daily basis. I sleep in it every night. But, it's been a long time since I've been able to lounge in bed for a few uninterrupted hours with a nice cup of jasmine tea and a deliciously decadent novel. I'm trying to schedule this destination for Friday. Despite the fact that I didn't have to go to work today and didn't have to be anywhere at all, I still got up at 6:00 this morning. I figure that by Friday I'll mentally have chilled out enough to be able to sleep in and accomplish the tea/novel thing.
Destination Two: Getting up at 6 a.m. inadvertently led me to my second choice locale, the living room couch. I first decided to go to the gym since I figured exercising would be incredibly productive and energizing. I do want to get more exercise this week, however, 6 am is a bit early for me and exercise. Plus, I already felt a bit guilty for not staying in bed longer. So, I said no to the gym and yes to vegetating on the couch with the TV.
I engaged in some channel surfing, mainly wondering if Ann Curry is annoyed that Meredith Viera is getting the top job on the Today show. Ann has worked hard at Today. I wonder why the top brass doesn't think she deserved to be the new "Katie Couric"?
Finally, I settled on watching music videos on MTV and VH1. Early morning is the only time either station really plays music videos anyway so I got to see all of the latest soft-core porn, I mean, videos. After seeing Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack", Nelly Furtado's "Promiscuous", Cassie's "Me and You" and the queen of them all, Pussycat Doll's "Buttons", all within a half hour time frame, I felt like I needed to go sit in front of a fan to cool off or else go attempt to wake my husband up. Fortunately (or unfortunately?) for my snoring other half, my eldest son woke up and wanted breakfast and cartoons. Nothing like a chatty five-year old and some Barney to kill any sense of desire that may have been sparked.
Le Troisieme: Correspondence. Ok, ok. Perhaps this isn't really truly a destination but I have a lot of folks I need to write to. I miss that feeling of getting a beautiful hand-written letter from a friend. I loved getting letters so much that I became a huge letter writer back in the days before email. Now, I have a list of people I am behind on sending letters or cards to, namely a couple of girlfriends who are pregnant, or moving, have just bought houses or are otherwise in transition! Plus, my sister's 40th birthday is coming up. I'm going to take the time to write to everyone this week. Of course, wouldn't it just be the stars aligning if folks somehow decided to write me as well and I got some nice, detailed emails from friends this week, telling me all that's going on in their lives?
Nothing to do certainly turns into something in short order. It's not doing "nothing" but more changing my priorities and shifting to the things I need to find more time to do. It's doing them more frequently, not just when I'm on vacation for a week. What I need to figure out is how to retain the elements of vacation that I enjoy when work starts back up again.
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