Today was spent visiting with family, unpacking, and house cleaning. Miss Scarlett and I were very glad to see each other and you can't beat having a small child happy to see you. Not at all.
I also got caught up with work and made arrangements to help out by teaching full time in the fall only and taking more time off after Christmas. Hope I don't regret this.
All in all it was very good to be home. Family is already booking visits for next year to join us. I know having family on your vacation may not be what everyone wants, but for us it is a chance to catch up with people we just wouldn't have this time to be with.
I have to say though that by dinner time I had a vague sense of loss, but couldn't figure out who I was missing because I have seen everyone over the last few months.
Then it hit me that who I was missing was a part of myself.
The part that on vacation has time to do things for the hell of it. This holiday I started riding a bike again after decades and decades on my own two feet. There were a few moments when I cruised out of the driveway and onto the sidewalk in the hot sun when I felt exactly the same way I did when I was 8 years old. I could have sworn I was on summer holidays then, with my mom even waiting for me at home, with no reason to go anywhere but off for a bike ride.
I know that anyone driving by in their car would have looked over and seen a 57 year old woman carefully and sedately wobbling along on a conservative safe old pedal bike. That might have been what they saw, but to me, inside I was a kid again and man I was racing, was I racing.
Think tomorrow it would be a good idea for me to do some sewing and really settle in here.
Oh I can relate to the bike riding and I just love having holidays like that, they are the best.
ReplyDeleteOh, yes, my best Christmas present was a new bike about four years ago. The sun shining, wind blowing through your hair, wheels spinning, freedom!
ReplyDeleteI think tomorrow would be a good day to get out for another bike ride!
ReplyDeleteSay, how did you get your home-away-from-home-canned goods through customs, anyway? It's hard enough to get those folks to believe a carload of fabric is for "personal use" ... but unlabeled preserves? Or did you have "nothing" to declare LOL
Very wise of you Betsy. Actually, and I checked this out, you can bring in preserves in fairly large quantities if they are for personal use only. So strange when a middle age woman gets her tiny nail file confiscated by the airline.
ReplyDelete