How do you dream about vacation?
Exciting revelation from yesterday: I now have a little more than a week’s worth of paid vacation days accrued.
This might not seem exciting to some. But this is my first job in which I have paid vacation or sick days. I find having my own insurance exciting too, but I’ve had insurance before, so it’s not as a big a deal to me, though of course I am grateful and love feeling like I can go to the doctor when I am sick. But I’ve never even really been on a real vacation. I’ve had vacations/breaks from school of course. And I’ve gone on a few trips, and I used a day or two of paid vacation at Christmas. But now I am envisioning going on an honest-to-God, real live vacation. Like a trip to somewhere with the purpose being to relax, explore, and enjoy.
Here’s the history. When I was four, I went with my family to visit some relatives in Duluth, Minnesota. We have pictures of us with them. To be honest, I don’t remember their names, but I know they are from my maternal grandfather’s family, because he was raised there. My one memory of the event was playing a Memory card game in the motel on a bed. Those relatives really had made an impression on me.
Through the years, my family and I went on trips to different cities in northern and central IL, southern WI, eastern IA, and twice to Minneapolis, for swim meets. We left very early, traveled in the family van, and had to be in the pool by 7 AM for an hour of warm-up with the events starting at 8AM. We did this for both Saturday and Sunday, sometimes staying at a hotel in the area if it was too far to drive home and back again. We occasionally did the Friday night sessions too. The meets were usually a thrill. We would be sleepy and cranky on the way there, wide awake in a crowded pool by 7:10, and exhausted but happy by the time the meet was over. We had to swim hard and report to a strict (but usually loveable) coach. But we got to hang out with our friends and feel the exhilaration of competition, and eat out like at my favorite after-swimming stop, Arthur’s Deli. We played cards, read books, took pictures, and explored various campuses.
The days were often divided into two sessions, with several different age groups swimming in each. It was great for my only-child friends; they either got their swimming over with by lunch time and had a free afternoon, or they could sleep in and show up around noon or 1. I was never so lucky. With two siblings, with 4 years between my sister and I and three between her and my brother, we were guaranteed to never get an easy break. So we were there for the long haul. Two of us would swim during one session, then the third swam while the others played with friends around the building, took a nap on a towel in the gymnasium, or worked on homework in the concessions area. This is the way a majority of my weekends between the ages of 12 and 18 were spent. These were our trips; we didn’t have time or money or energy for anything relaxing or exotic. Just a tour of Midwestern pools – YMCAs, universities, high schools, small colleges, private facilities. Outdoors in the summer in the sun and wind with the bugs, indoor the rest of the year, watching each other swim while roasting on warm decks, resting and playing in the next room over with teammates of all ages. It was a great life, with little time for relaxation, but I wouldn’t trade it in for an annual trip to Disney World or camping. Still, my years of swimming competitively took away my ability, even now, to just get in a pool and play or do nothing. And I think my years of juggling swim practice with schoolwork and school extracurriculars with swim meets and friend obligations and church and family get-togethers never really gave me a good sense of what it would even be like to vacation.
I didn’t continue swimming after high school. But in college money was the ultimate barrier. What I had breaks from school, I went home to see my family, or with my boyfriend to his mom’s house, or I stayed at school to keep working, always hoping to stay on top of the part of my tuition that wasn’t covered by massive amounts of student loans.
And even though I have to now pay back those loans, I think I am still going to go on vacation next year. I’m able to pay my loans, rent, utilities, groceries, and then some. So I figure if I keep saving and living frugally, I should have enough to spend on a vacation. I want to go to New York. Chad’s never been and I went once for a few days to attend a conference. We have friends there and I think it would be so great to even just windowshop and eat cheaply. I don’t know, maybe we’ll go on a road trip somewhere, if gas is cheap enough. I hope to have a vacation that is one part friends, one part exploring and seeing new things, and one part relaxing – sitting around doing nothing, staying late in bed, reading lots of fun books. I think that is what it is like to take a vacation. And I think I am due for one.
Of course if none of this happens, and even if it does, I plan to conservatively use a vacation day or two this spring, to work on my garden, go to the park, and play with my kitties. Can you tell it is warm in Iowa today? I feel like I am glowing – it’s 61 right now! So beautiful. And I have vacation days, just sitting there waiting for me.
