Anticipation
Lightening up a bit from recent self-revelatory and philosophically-challenging blog entries, I find my thoughts drifting towards my upcoming vacation. There’s nothing quite like the anticipation factor when you’re looking forward to a break from routine – work, social commitments, exercise, sleep, no sleep, freelance jobs; work, social commitments... it’s what I call the “turn. smile. shift. repeat.” (to borrow from a song lyric)
For me, there is a great deal of sense-memory involved in the trip I’m about to embark on back to the familiar surroundings of my brother’s little piece of paradise in South Carolina. Everything’s different there. Concrete gives way to marsh grass; car and industry fumes replaced by the smell of saltwater; sidewalks fall away into sandy beach and boardwalks. Sweet tea and seafood in place of beer and a burger. There’s something that happens as soon as the car turns onto the Main Road leading onto the island. Twenty miles begins to shift into a slower, more languid pace as kudzu-covered oaks form a living, teeming tunnel ushering me into a time and place where I can breathe deeply and push everything out of my mind.
There’s a tidal pull that brings me bare-footed on the boardwalk over a ridge of sand dunes toward the ocean. I give in to an absolute and total sense of contentment when I’m flinging myself into the waiting waves and the unpredictable and revitalizing energy of the water. Nothing else exists in those balmy beach moments except to look at three of the people I love most in this world and enjoy their company, uninhibited and fully. I look forward to cracking open a book on the back deck, saying hello to the sun and watching a lone little lizard run along the railing. Mornings turn into animated sessions of playing cars, aliens vs. anything, and simply watching my nephew’s bright ideas turn themselves into reality in front of me. Nights are spent sipping wine, giggling over celebrity crushes and pushing my brother’s buttons with my sister-in-law. Stereo speakers pump while I talk about and listen to music with my brother. I wake up, rested and renewed, with the marsh to my back and a day full of possibility in front of me.
Yes, there’s nothing quite like the anticipation of vacation. And bringing back that magic, that sense of renewal to daily life and finding that same sense of contentment upon your return.
For me, there is a great deal of sense-memory involved in the trip I’m about to embark on back to the familiar surroundings of my brother’s little piece of paradise in South Carolina. Everything’s different there. Concrete gives way to marsh grass; car and industry fumes replaced by the smell of saltwater; sidewalks fall away into sandy beach and boardwalks. Sweet tea and seafood in place of beer and a burger. There’s something that happens as soon as the car turns onto the Main Road leading onto the island. Twenty miles begins to shift into a slower, more languid pace as kudzu-covered oaks form a living, teeming tunnel ushering me into a time and place where I can breathe deeply and push everything out of my mind.
There’s a tidal pull that brings me bare-footed on the boardwalk over a ridge of sand dunes toward the ocean. I give in to an absolute and total sense of contentment when I’m flinging myself into the waiting waves and the unpredictable and revitalizing energy of the water. Nothing else exists in those balmy beach moments except to look at three of the people I love most in this world and enjoy their company, uninhibited and fully. I look forward to cracking open a book on the back deck, saying hello to the sun and watching a lone little lizard run along the railing. Mornings turn into animated sessions of playing cars, aliens vs. anything, and simply watching my nephew’s bright ideas turn themselves into reality in front of me. Nights are spent sipping wine, giggling over celebrity crushes and pushing my brother’s buttons with my sister-in-law. Stereo speakers pump while I talk about and listen to music with my brother. I wake up, rested and renewed, with the marsh to my back and a day full of possibility in front of me.
Yes, there’s nothing quite like the anticipation of vacation. And bringing back that magic, that sense of renewal to daily life and finding that same sense of contentment upon your return.
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