Why We Need Vacations

Posted by Kathy on Jul 2, 2009 in Blog | 0 comments

Quote: “Adventures are to the adventurous.” – Benjamin Disraeli

We saddled up the dog, hooked up the trailer and headed for parts unknown. Well sort of. We had been there once before, but only for a few days and this time we were going to spend ten glorious days in the same spot. That is parts unknown for us, because we usually over plan our vacation days and move from one place to the next until we collapse in our chairs and vow never to do ‘THAT’ again. We arrived at our spot at 9:00 pm, because of many last minute projects that one of us didn’t know about. This sometimes happens in marriage, one of us has things that must be done or the planet will stop turning on its axis. Whatever.

We arrived in Port Townsend at 9:00pm to catch the last moments of light. We feverishly set up the trailer, made some dinner and settled back for vacation. There was just so much we couldn’t have known. Like that the new restaurant being remodeled a few feet from our trailer would have a grand opening the next night resulting in bumper to bumper cars and people who seemed to consider us part of the view from the deck. We didn’t know the weather would be grey, or that the furnace would quit. We didn’t anticipate that the sewer would back up into the bathtub or that we would spend a night trying to work all the hoses by flashlight in the 50 mile per hour winds. I could go on, but you get the idea.

Vacations are sometimes wrought with disappointments and set backs, so why do we take them? Perhaps it is because vacations save us from ourselves. Vacations require us to get outside our lives, our safety zones, our comforts and go somewhere where we give up control of the weather, the road and the white space in between. Without this we might find reasons to make quilted covers for our washer and dryers, knit cozies for our cars and in general–lose ourselves in things that aren’t that important.  So I encourage each and every one of you to take the risk, put the chips on a trip to somewhere unknown, where you can get space from your comfortable fortresses. It will help you refocus, unravel your worries and remember that life was meant to be an adventure!

PS. We had great weather the last two days, friends that came to visit and I found a copy of The Thriteenth Tale on one of those gray, blustery days–worth every penny!