As I get older, I muse a lot on the mutability of time. (And a lot of other things. Do you find your thoughts wander onto these epic large thoughts as you age? I mean, assuming you’re aging. Maybe you’re 18 or something. If you are 18, I think I can tell you with some certainty that as you get older, you will start thinking about these things, like time, and death, and aging, and love, with this almost disturbing depth and breadth.)
I have been on vacation since last Friday at 3:30pm. A little over 8 days ago. I leave for home tomorrow morning sometime between 8-10am, depending on how late I sleep in. (I’d like to get home sooner rather than later, so the earlier I get on the road, the earlier I can get home and start unpacking and preparing for my life to start back up on Monday morning.)
A normal 8 days goes by at a normal pace. It feels like 8 days. (Sometimes it feels like more, depending on how tough the week is or how exhausted I am or various other things. You know how those weeks are. Those weeks that seem to last a million years and you can’t wait til they’re done.)
A week on vacation, however, seems to last about three days. I feel like I just got here. I can barely remember the days I’ve been on vacation because they zipped by TOO QUICKLY. They squished into one mega-day, and now that mega-day is finished, and I have to go back to the real world.
And the real world is fine; I’m not complaining about my life. It’s a very good life. I like my job, I don’t hate my part-time job, I adore my reviewing job. I love where I live and I love my home and I have wonderful friends. All’s well.
But vacation’s just so NICE, you know? You can stay up as late as you want and read all the books and take naps and spend serious time on writing and email and thoughts. I live a very zip-zip-zip real life where I am going every minute until I crash out in bed. It has been SO NICE to just slow down.
The same amount of time in my real life has compressed and squished and feels like just a couple of days. I know this happens to a lot of people on vacation. It’s not just me. It just sucker-punches me every time it does.
I am feeling bittersweet and end-of-vacationy. Please forgive.
So, because I need to finish loading the car tonight:
Goodbye, Helper Mule!
Goodbye, my favorite nephew!
(Side note: on our way back from the movies, my brother ran into the store to grab something to drink and left me in the car with The Nephew. I said, “I’ll stay here with you, kiddo!” He hesitated for a minute, then said “You’ll stay here. With your favorite nephew!” I call him that almost every time I see him. I almost always say, “Look who it is! My favorite nephew!” AND HE REMEMBERED! I love this kid more than life.)
Goodbye, strange, creepy, borderline racist clown pottery thingy I found at camp behind a bunch of things, and Mom said, “Good grief, Amy, you could have at least dusted that before you post it on the internet!”
Goodbye, Morris the Moose who hangs over our camp fireplace!
Goodbye beautiful full moon and gigantic campfires!
Goodbye golden lion balls of Vermont!
And goodbye, my most beloved fishhole!
I should be home tomorrow early-afternoonish, and then it’s back to the daily grind of work and more work and theater reviews and hanging with Dumbcat back in his normal environment and being able to use my laptop again and sneaking in emails whenever I get a spare moment.
I will miss you, camp. Next year, let’s do it again, ok? And in the meantime, let’s start planning another adventure. Where shall we go next, I wonder?
July 27th, 2013 at 8:54 pm
Read all the books! Seriously, if anyone ever offers to turn me into a member of the undead, I’m taking it if it means that I can read all the books. So, yes, to being a vampire and no, to being a zombie.
Little kids are so cute – my niece is down here and the other night, when I got reading to leave and go back to my house she hugged me and said “Bye, Auntie, I love you TOO much”. Which is what she says instead of “so much” like we say to her and is totally adorable – I always tell her “I love you the mostest”.
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July 27th, 2013 at 9:02 pm
I finished 7 books in 8 days. Not bad! (And only 2 were kind of awful!)
I will miss when The Nephew is all grown up and stops saying adorable malapropisms. They’re my favorites.
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July 27th, 2013 at 8:54 pm
lol – ready to leave. Not reading to leave. I have reading on the brain.
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July 27th, 2013 at 8:55 pm
Man, I wish I could have come on vacation with you.
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July 27th, 2013 at 9:00 pm
I wish so, too. So much sleeping and reading and loafing. And it was so cool up here! 40s at night last 3 nights in a row! No humidity! I will SO miss that!
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July 28th, 2013 at 1:07 am
As a freshly-minted nineteen-year-old (as of last Thursday), I shall take your advice/warning and be ready to think (in depth and breadth) about life, love, death, the universe and everything! It also ties in well with my current reading, Nick Hornby’s ‘High Fidelity’, so great job for being timely :P
I’m so glad you enjoyed your vacation, and thanks for the pictures — it felt like I was on holiday too (I kind of was)! Tomorrow, back to uni for my second semester :D
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July 28th, 2013 at 6:43 pm
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!
I have never read “High Fidelity.” I watched the movie. It was too musicy for me. (Anything that’s too musicy makes me tune out because I know nothing about music and it makes me feel stupid.)
Yay for vicarious vacations! And have a good second semester! Kick butt!
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July 29th, 2013 at 12:04 am
Thank you! :D
I’ve never seen the film, but the novel wasn’t very musicy, because I know nothing about music either and I didn’t feel alienated at all. I mean, it had a lot of references, but I just took them at face-value and moved on. I’m sure I missed a lot of jokes and allusions, but I’m alright with that. It was a very good read (but I’ll let you know how it compares to the film after I’ve seen the film…in the unforeseeable future).
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July 29th, 2013 at 10:19 pm
The movie did have my movie-boyfriend John Cusack. So it wasn’t a total loss. Nothing with him is. Even terrible movies.
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July 30th, 2013 at 1:25 am
Haha! Fair enough :P
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July 28th, 2013 at 8:25 am
That’s not dust! That’s patina. If you remove it, you will lower the value of creepy racist clown-thing.
Safe travels! May the year until your next camp week fly by.
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July 28th, 2013 at 6:41 pm
Hee! It’s TOTALLY patina. I’ll let her know that!
I’m home safe and sound and Dumbcat has finally come out from under the couch and doesn’t think I’m going to put him back in the carrier for round two!
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July 28th, 2013 at 8:27 pm
So glad you made it home safely!
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July 28th, 2013 at 11:51 am
Now that I’m a “stay-at-home” (blerg), I have thought about this vacation thing often. Eric and I have the same “complaint” when he’s on vacation–nine days feels like three. At the most. It stinks.
HOWEVER. I think that makes us appreciate the vacations even more. I mean, it’s lovely to be able to stay home and read ALL DAY and not have to deal with shitty people and all that…but I also have days (many of them) when I wish I were working out of the home. Even if it means dealing with shitty people. I’m a bit nostalgic for the days when I could look forward to a vacation…instead of looking forward to Mondays when the kids go back to school. I want to say more, but it would be a whole blog post in itself. Haha! Hopefully you get what I’m saying. :)
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July 28th, 2013 at 6:40 pm
I totally get what you’re saying! And when I was unemployed and there was that month I wasn’t working, it did get exhausting, doing nothing, and seeing no one…yep, I totally get it.
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July 28th, 2013 at 2:32 pm
I’ve had similar experiences with vacations, although I tend to take shorter, more frequent trips. There was one vacation in which I lost all track of time. That felt a little awkward, and I wasn’t quite sure where to go with it.
Safe travels, and have a great start to your work week!
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July 28th, 2013 at 6:38 pm
Thank you! I’m back safe and sound (and I’m sure work will be fine, although sitting around doing nothing is a better alternative, mental-health wise!)
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