I just returned from two weeks vacation. Naturally, people have been asking me how my vacation was. I find myself having a hard time giving a short answer. The bottom line is that I think I learned alot about rest and fun and play over the past couple of weeks, and I came away from my vacation with a new commitment to having more of those things in my life.
I spent the first week of my vacation at the lake house in NH I've been going to since I was 2 years old. My mom still spends every summer up there. The picture above is the view from the porch at sunset. My entire extended family gathers there for the 4th of July, so the first weekend was loud, hectic and fun. Then the rest of that hot, hot week, I did pretty much nothing than relax. Sure, I took one trip to Keene to get groceries, and I made and cleaned up from meals, but other than that, I pretty much spent most of my time just sitting on the porch reading "World Without End," the can't-put-it-down sequel to "Pillars of the Earth." I don't generally take the time to read novels except on vacation. When I was not reading, I was making friendship bracelets. I like to make some for everyone each summer, and also make a bunch for myself, which we wear all summer until they're too ratty to be presentable anymore or just fall off. I also spent a lot of time sitting down on the beach under a sun umbrella with my feet in the water and a lemonade in my hand. I floated in the water a fair amount. I swam. And everyday, either early in the morning or in the evening, I took a kayak trip out to the beaver cove to have some quiet time alone, which was probably the most rejuvinating part of the whole week for me. I felt sorry we couldn't stay the full two weeks in NH this year, but we had to get the boys home to prepare for their trip to Scotland.
Our boys sing down in Norwalk with a fancy Chorister program, and right now they are in Scotland for two weeks, singing in cathedrals. This is a wonderful opportunity for them, and I'm thrilled they're able to go. But the second week of my vacation was spent at home because the boys had to go to two rehearsals a day, and the packing list had to be procured, and the suitcases all packed and ready to go. So the second hot, hot week of my vacation was spent driving back and forth to Norwalk in heavy traffic on the Merritt Parkway, shopping in crowded stores and then watching Robin Hood movies and Scotland travelogue videos each night. I did some gardening, I made and ate good food, I made some more bracelets. It was still a change of pace. But by the end of my second week of vacation, when the boys were packed up and went flying off to Europe, I was more than ready to come back to my regular routine.
So how was my vacation? The truth is, at first I was disappointed by it. It wasn't an exotic getaway like so many of my friends and colleagues seem to take. It was just visiting family and spending time at home. I still prayed every day like I usually do. I still made meals and cleaned up. I still took care of kids and did laundry. So even though I was relieved of my church duties for two weeks, in many ways, it seemed to be just two more weeks of my regular life instead of a 'real vacation' - whatever that is. Upon reflection about my mixed feelings about my vacation, I've come to a few realizations.
First, I'm grateful that I live a congruent life. My vocation and my home life weave in and out of each other all day, and because I love my work and it's such a part of me, sometimes it's hard for me to know when I'm working and when I'm not. I'm not the kind of person who slogs off to work on Monday and just waits all week for my real life to begin on the weekend. I realized that I don't actually want to save up all my fun and relaxation for a vacation that is somehow apart from my day to day life. Sure, a trip to Bali would be great, but since I'm not in the position to do that kind of vacation right now, I can remind myself that I have the ability to experience a sense of 'real vacation' each and every day. The peace I felt out in the beaver cove in the kayak is the same kind of peace I enjoy each morning when I sing Morning Prayer in the church. The enjoyment of a relaxing and healthy meal is something I can also gratefully do everyday. I could even read a novel every now and then! I realized that I can intentionally claim a little rest every day. After all, Isaiah says, "In returning and rest you will be saved."
The other thing I realized is how important it is to put play into my life. The downside of having an intense job that weaves in and out of my whole life is that sometimes I never stop working. My mind can interpret anything I'm doing as part of my vocation. So I've realized that I need to intentionally take blocks of time that are not work - blocks of time that are simply play. Making friendship bracelets, for example, is play for me. It serves no purpose whatsoever other than it's fun to do. I found I felt sad when I had to get back home and stop sitting on the beach making bracelets for hours on end. But who says that I can only play when I'm on 'vacation?' I can put at least a little bit of play into each day so that when 'vacation' comes I am not so play starved. So I'm now saying to myself that my vacation is not over yet. I am committing myself to a little rest, a little fun and a little play every day. So next time you see me and ask me how my vacation was, I'll tell you that so far today, it's going great!
