How I spent my summer vacation

I cleared it with my manager to take the first two weeks of July off and began researching airfares to Eureka, CA and Portland, OR. I had had several planning discussions with my sister (in CA) and my daughter (in OR) and was really getting excited about my left coast swing. I hadn’t hugged my daughter in six months and hadn’t seen my sister in six years!

I finally accepted that airfares weren’t magically going to drop, so I developed an itinerary and before pulling the trigger, I checked to make sure the dates still worked.

My daughter – “Have you purchased your tickets yet?”

Me – “No. Why?”   

“Don’t.”

“Why not?”

“I have an opportunity to go hiking with friends in Peru.”

Enter stage right – Kenny. Well, actually very far right from across the pond, from Belgium! She met him at a MySQL conference in San Diego, and they have been hiking all over the place ever since – from Portland, OR to Vancouver, CA. Through FaceTime, they have determined:

• They both have lists of about 30 characteristics and qualities for the ideal partner. They can check off most of the items on their lists.
• If they can get through two weeks of hiking in South America and still like each other, then she will look at joining him in Belgium
• If they can get through three months of living together, then she will sell her house in Portland and move to Belgium

This is frightening to me on so many levels, but she is a 38-year-old grown woman and can make her own decisions. I am seriously thinking about gently initiating a risk planning session with her. I’ll also see if she has any lessons learned from her failed marriage.

I quickly turned to salvaging my vacation and began researching airfares again, this time California only, spending more time with my sister. Of course, I called to confirm with her and here is how it went –

My sister – “Have you booked your flight?”

Me – “No. Why?” It turns out that something came up and she will be unable to make time for me in the month of July. Northern California.

 I guess you could call it a positive lesson learned – always check before purchasing tickets to make sure your hosts can still make time for you. Honestly, I never thought this would happen and I didn’t have a backup plan. After such a relentless winter, and the intense sprint to the Epic go-live, I was aching for some time off. So I settled on a staycation and here is how it went down…

• Got an awesome massage
• Visited my friend on the Cape (great food, drinks, walks on the beach)
• Played golf
• Mulched (a great workout)
• Watched movies
• Mulched (felt stronger as the week went on)
• Played golf
• Mulched (I had ordered 6 cubic yards, but only needed 4! Oy vey!)
• Helped with funeral service at my church (I was the only one around to help)
• Went to pool party with Jamaican food including red snapper that had been Fed-Ex’d next day (from catch to table)
• Bought blowup swimming pool
• Went to Cape again, this time with family
• Had lobster and steamers; great fireworks on the beach
• Played golf

I feel strong from all the physical work and play, my gardens look beautiful, and I avoided a costly lesson learned. It was a great week!

P.S. Scenes from my staycation . . .