Vacation Perspective

Last Wednesday night, I arrived at a cottage on a lake shore in New Hampshire with my family, a box of games, and 4 bags of food. We left for home with much less food on Sunday around 5PM. We only left the cottage by boat or to swim. It was glorious.

The view from the Turret.

Here's a partial list of things I did not do on vacation:

• Turn my phone's ringer on.
• Wear my fitbit.
• Think about work.
• Spend time editing anything.
• Mind, care, nor worry.
• Watch TV.
• Play online games.
• Play games on my phone.
• Use my computer.

OK, I lied. I used my computer to pay a bill on Thursday morning. And there's a typo on a card in Seasons - "cristal" is, in fact, a correct spelling, but not in English unless you mean the champagne. But it was right there in my face; it's not like I was looking for it or anything.

ANYway.

I checked email when I wanted, not when the angry buzzing demanded it. As a result, I checked my phone far less overall. Staying in constant touch became less important and much less of a stressor.

Hubert Montgomery III.
She's a Spotted Orb Weaver.

The days filled up with games. Our morning game of Seasons and nightly game of Lords of Waterdeep with the Scoundrels of Skullport expansion are a habit I'd love to keep up with, if only my day job would let me. We watched our local spider Hugh recreate her web just outside the kitchen window after dark when we accidentally destroyed it during the day. We created our own simple games. "That'll Move the Dock" lets players guess if a particular boat's wake will move the diving platform moored just offshore. Nobody wins, but it's fun to just play.

We would go out on (or in) the water in the afternoon. We got hooked on kayaking. We had a rough plan for every meal when we arrived, which took the stress of deciding what to eat out of the equation. We washed dishes immediately after eating, since there weren't many available. We had the time to look around. To absorb nature. To breathe. To exist.

Moons grow on trees,
But only one at a time.

So far I'm holding on to that feeling. I look for other opportunities to enjoy existing in the everyday chaos of this life I've chosen. Past vacations have only lasted 2 hours' contact with work. I'm already at 6 hours and still still. This vacation feels different. Deeper, somehow.

I feel more balanced. I dropped some habits that weren't rewarding. I thought I would miss them. I was wrong. I'm uninstalling Hearthstone as I type this. I've found some emptiness again that I hope to be stingy about filling.

There's work to do. I have editing gigs lined up for the short term. I have a few ideas that I've been kicking around, and hopefully I'll have the room to implement some of them. Stay tuned as they take shape.

"Tell my mother I feel fine."

I have sharpened my axe.

And gods help the typos.