Everybody Laughs

I recently heard a man say that he lives for his vacations. I thought to myself, “That is scary and sad.” First of all, most Americans only get, on average, 2-3 weeks of vacation per year. So that is a lot of pressure and expectation resting on less than one twelfth of your entire year. What if your vacation ends up not being everything you built it up to be in your mind? What if you get sick? What if the venue looks a lot better in pictures than it really does in person? And even if your vacation does end up being a fabulous time, why would the rest of your life (the overwhelming majority of it) be a drab and dreary purgatory, until your vacation time is called?

I started to think that it would be a worthy goal to try to make every day feel like it has a little bit of vacation in it. Now, I recognize that this is easier to accomplish on weekends or other days that are off from work, so I figured yesterday, a Saturday, would be a good day to give it a good college try. I talked my husband (the teenagers at home had their own ideas of what a vacation day looks like, and that idea didn’t include hanging around all day, with mom and dad) into going to a neighboring town and hitting a small museum, a quaint art gallery and lush botanical garden – all three places that have been on my bucket list for quite some time. They were all three inexpensive, yet interesting venues that you didn’t need to invest hours and hours, at each one. The mix of all three made for a circus of the mind. It was like going to different tents for entirely different experiences and expeditions, and all three were easily explored in a short distance of a few walk-able miles, and the venues were explored and devoured in a time span no longer than four hours. We also managed to fit in a delicious meal at an authentic German cafe and had fun conversations with other diners, which ended with the whole cafe singing “Happy Birthday” to Kathy, a sweet elderly woman who was on her way to a baseball game, but she first sat and relished in our off-key, but full of heart and noisy song. My husband and I topped all of this off by splitting a homemade ice cream sandwich, which was made of delicious, creamy homemade ice cream sandwiched in between an award-worthy brownie and a cookie, pressed (yes, and the ice cream stayed cold, don’t ask me how) and then sprinkled with Butterfingers. While, we devoured our treat, we happily watched a little girl and her mother dance in the bubbles that were streaming playfully from a bubble machine that the ice cream parlor’s owners had installed outside of the store. The little girl wore a shirt that said this:

“Everybody Laughs in the Same Language”

When we got home, our kids were at home and still up, so we all cuddled on the couch and watched a movie together. Yesterday was easily a vacation-worthy, memory-filled experience. Now, I realize not every day is going to have the free hours for ambling, and not every day is going to be crisis free. Honestly, right now it feels good to envision the rest of my day, today, as a day at home, resting and getting organized for the week. Still, I refuse to live a life that is only zestfully experienced, two or three weeks out of a year. Yesterday, reminded me that with a little bit of effort, imagination and a “go with the flow” adventurous spirit, and without the tethers of grand expectations, even an ordinary day can feel like a vacation.