The Art of Scheduling Nothing
Ahh, the last dog days of summer. I can hardly comprehend how fast time flies by! I just got a newsletter from our school, it stated: Welcome 2007-08 school year. (?) Wait… did i just read school year??? I can not BELIEVE it is already that time of year again! It seems like just yesterday that we were doing the end of school what with all the festivals and ballet recitals. Now all this hullabaloo is starting back up and I must ask “HAVE YOU HAD A VACATION YET?” If not, take my advice and GO ON VACATION!!!
Yes, I said leave. I never thought I would be writing this but it is an amazing thing to take a break. Ha! It’s up to you if you really want to take the kids along… For me that is a “different” kind of vacation. Whether you just drive down to Galveston and spend an entire day with the kids or take off just the two of you…trust me, just go!
My close friends and family are aware of just how much I don’t like to leave and go on vacation. In fact, I never have liked this scheduled event for “doing nothing” I can remember as a child making list after list of “things to do” as the sun set on the last day of school. There is a lesson learned in the Art of doing nothing, this actually will provoke something and has been , for me anyway, a very real enlightening experience. I had managed to avoid a real vacation for several years ( I refuse to mention how many) and this never bothered me, now my family and friends might have a different opinion.
I finally booked a trip (without the kids…i.e. REAL VACATION) and told my team I was going to Paris. Yep….FRANCE. Many of my friends had rather mixed feelings about the decision, well; considering my lack of experience in the department of relaxation. I surprised my husband for his birthday and 17th anniversary with the trip and he responded with “you’re kidding, right?”. He said I “had marched to the heart of European culture where no one would speak our language and what was I thinking???” I began reading all about Paris, and even listened for weeks to audio’s of language and culture to prevent me from offending the presupposed “snotty French”.
Well as the day got closer to the trip I began making up excuses for not going and avoided packing, I was, in short ,in denial of a need to just “be”. There is really something to be said for taking off and regrouping. But alas I had to focus on an organized vacation; so I began planing every waking moment of the trip. ( I basically turned my business skills into running the vacation instead of trying to plan to do nothing) I had visions of museums and places listed to eat and I even made a trip itinerary on yahoo.com! Yikes! As we stepped into Paris we were tired (Time change is really yucky!) and Brian was mentally prepared for an inability to communicate and a high susceptibility to offending this seemingly perfect place!
Ladies and Gentlemen…. Paris is nothing like what they write. This place… so old and historical, was surprisingly filled with happy, cordial and gracious people! I maintained a sense of caution for a few days but quickly the concierge began setting up activities and making me feel as if I had lived there my whole life. From afternoon walking…(which you know I never do) to talking together about life, I rediscovered exactly what I knew to be the man I married and slowed down to smell the air after a quick rain, and watch young lovers walk in the parks. I came to Paris a weary and tired traveler and left knowing I would never again live another year without this thing called vacation.
When I returned to Sugar Land I was a changed woman! Inspired from all the fabulous art and feeling a more realistic sense of my place in the world as an artist, I found myself at home in my Sugar Land and also different from having been away. The liberation of doing nothing is a fabulous way to end a summer and recharge the batteries for a fall that will as usual be filled to the brim. Vacations are good about doing that, especially those without time schedules and children to rear and anything to do really except for just being. I recommend one as soon as possible for everyone. So as the imminent 2007 school year approaches please fasten your seat belts and leave for a little while. Take you and your spouse and go do something you’ve never done before. Enjoy a few minutes, hours or days with family before it all starts to hit the fan again. I love the hustle and really never thought much about anything else. I suspect many of you are doing the same thing. What with swim teams and tennis lessons and trips to golfing and reunions it’s no wonder we have all just moved the “busy” of school and schedules to the summer’s set of other reasons to not SLOW DOWN. I plan to take a vacation every year now, with the children on one… and just with my husband for another. So splurge, leave for just a little while or longer if you can.
Life is all about doing and getting things done; just for once stop and rediscover the art of doing absolutely, (this is really important, even if you do take the kids!) nothing at all!
