The Trouble With Not Having Enough To Do

We’re here and it feels like home.

The first thing Sam did Friday after unpacking was to get in the pool. I sat on the side with my feet in the water and fought back anxiety. What would I do for an entire week? I realized how much I am not used to having this sort of free time. Eight long days stretched out in front of me. What would I ever do to keep myself occupied? I’d brought books and magazines, I even brought a sketch pad and paints, and of course I had my computer, but still? Valuable time was going to be slipping away, time in which I could be GETTING THINGS DONE! VERY IMPORTANT THINGS! THAT NEEDED DONE! RIGHT AWAY!

Ohhh, I needed this vacation more than I’d thought. And it wasn’t going to be easy.

After we’d explored the house and the pool and the yard and read all the notes Sandy and Terry had left, we decided to go buy groceries and wine. I love shopping in a new grocery store. Everything is different. The brands are different. The produce is different. The bakery is different. You never know what you might find.

We loaded up on fresh fruit and veggies and bread and steaks. We bought wine and mixers and then we brought it all home and cooked in the outdoor kitchen. We grilled steaks and asparagus, and had baked sweet potatoes and salad and we ate it all outdoors next to the pool, while listening to music from my I-pod.

Heaven! Heaven I tell you! And then we laid on the lounge chairs next to the pool and listened to more music and talked and watched the sky and listened to the critters in the trees until finally we were sleepy.

We crawled into bed with the ceiling fan on high and we slept. And I mean we slept. For more than 12 hours we slept. We had to get up before 11 in order to meet Mike, the regular house sitter who came by to answer questions and show us some of the “tricks” with the house. But as soon as he left, we went back to bed! Can you believe it? We slept until nearly 3 pm. And it wasn’t that heavy, headachy sleep you have when you are sleeping too much. Nope, this was cozy, restful sleep. And we woke up refreshed. Ready to start the day. Of course the day was nearly over. But we have 7 more days so who cares?!

I will admit that my sleep was not entirely blissful. I spent a few hours in the early morning worrying and dreaming about never, ever being able to find a good tenant with which to share our building. I turned the problem over and over in my sleepy but anxious brain, beating myself up for not being up and out of bed GETTING THINGS DONE that would help the situation. See what I mean about this vacation not being easy? Apparently I’ll have to drag my brain kicking and screaming towards this relaxation thing.