Vacation

a building with a sign that says 'museum of whimsy'. Never have I been so disappointed for a museum to be closed.

It’s early Friday afternoon and I have an entire weekend ahead of me as I write this but I already feel like I’m at the point where my vacation is winding down and the responsibilities of going back to work are already staring me in the face.

Last week I celebrated two fun milestones: I became fully protected by my COVID vaccines, and I celebrated my birthday. It was a busy work week for me. I decided to schedule some vacation time to celebrate both.

On Friday after work I went and floated in a sensory deprivation tank for 90 minutes, the first time I was able to do so since the initial lockdowns of the pandemic last March. I’m a huge fan of sensory deprivation tanks and I’ll post about it shortly!

On Saturday I had (vaccinated) friends over for a barbecue that also served as a birthday get together. We got to enjoy each other’s company unmasked for the first time in ages, and the experience was therapeutic. We had DQ ice cream cake and I am pleased to say it tastes pretty much just like I remember it as a child (side note: Dunkaroos are also back in stores now and they are similarly amazing).

Since then I’ve spent the week living my best life. I took a couple of road trips: one to Astoria, and another to Eugene. I dined indoors. I did some gardening. I took multiple trips to Home Depot and finally fixed our drip irrigation system. I spent a lot of time outside. I entered a grocery store for the first time since last March. I spent a lot of time purposefully appreciating simple and relaxing moments.

Although I’ve got lots of fun projects I want to do on my computer, I spent surprisingly little time using it. I just wasn’t drawn to it that much. I do have a soldering project that I might do this weekend though.

I accomplished just about all the things I wanted to accomplish, and I still have the weekend ahead of me. I would have liked to have dove back into the habit of practicing learning the piano with my Lumikeys keyboard, but that’s just something to save for the future, I suppose.

I kind of knew in the back of my head that I needed a break. I hadn’t really taken any time off since the holidays, and that break was somewhat dampened by not being able to see family (and also emergency surgery the cat needed). The newfound freedom and vanishing stresses of the pandemic allowed me to properly enjoy this week off. Not only that, but even as this little vacation winds down, it isn’t even Memorial Day yet, and the whole summer is ahead of us.

I knew I needed this time off, but actually experiencing it, I now realize the extent to which I needed it.

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