On Holiday

I am taking next week off from work. When you tell people you are going on vacation the first thing they usually ask is “Where are you going”? Europeans don’t take vacations. They “go on holiday”. I like the idea of being on holiday. Here is what I am doing and where I am going. I am going to sleep in everyday until my body tells me to get up. I am going to drink my favorite coffees and read the morning newspaper in the morning instead of in the evening like I do on workdays. I am going to begin reading “The Land of Painted Caves” by Jean Auel. It is the sixth book in a series that I began reading about twenty years ago with a classic called “The Clan of the Cave Bear”. I am going to listen to lots of music. I am going to fill up my bird feeder, sit on my back porch, and watch the different species of birds that come in my back yard. I am going to take naps whenever I feel like it. I will do this in the spirit of a Spanish proverb that says “Isn’t it nice to do nothing and then to rest afterwards”? I am going to run from anything resembling a “Honeydew” list. My goal is to have nowhere to go and all day to get there. I may wear the same Grateful Dead tee shirt every day. I may watch all of David Letterman instead of just the opening monologue. Most of my “vacations” usually involve family trips that are enjoyable but exhausting. This week of vacation will be very low key and hopefully rejuvenating. I’ll be “on holiday” in my mind without ever leaving my home.