From There to Here: Vacation Plans

by Amy L. Hatch

“Maybe you should take a vacation.”

The words popped up on my Skype screen Saturday afternoon, while Laura and I were talking about my upcoming trip back East to see my family.

I'll be leaving on a jet plane soon. Photo by gavdana, Flickr

I’m planning to go for a goodly chunk of time; after all, I haven’t been back home to Rochester for more than three days in over a year. Our time there is always so short, we always seem to be on our way to somewhere else and so we stay a day here, a day there.

This time I plan to go for at least 10 days.

When I first began planning the itinerary, I started to hyperventilate a little, thinking about all the time away from my home base here in Chambana. Not because I don’t want to be with my family; no, quite the opposite.

I got stressed because when you work for yourself, there really is no such thing as a vacation. There is no office door to close. My office comes with me where ever I go, in the form of my laptop and my mobile phone.

So when Laura suggested that maybe I take some time off, my first reaction was “no way, how could I manage that?” Then I started thinking about how busy I’ve been lately.

Being busy is good, having work is good, too. But I’d also like to actually get to spend some time with my mom and my sister’s family. I’d like to see my old friends, the ones who knew me when I had a mullet and a propensity for bad Europop music.

I didn’t think of my upcoming trip as a vacation before — after all, I have to navigate O’Hare with two children, three carry-on bags and one giant stroller — but now I’m thinking that I just might take a day or two to just be there.

Everyone needs a vacation now and then, right? And I bet Laura is just so happy that she suggested that I take one.

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