Vacation Time

It’s time for a vacation. We will be flying up to New York for two weeks to celebrate the holidays with family and friends. This vacation from the drudgery of living in Paradise is much anticipated. The relentlessly warm Caribbean sun, the absolutely perfect water temperatures, the rhum that’s always smooth and potent, and the pleasures that always flow is wearing.

We were warned that retirement is a dangerous time. More so because you have more time to do what you will, which apparently, is dangerous. Unless, we were told, you had “something to do”. The “something to do” was a directive that seemed at odds of what “retirement” seemed to entail. Nonetheless, we heeded this advice and decided to live on a sailboat in Paradise when we retired. That was almost 13 years ago. Well, the “something to do” is named Kalunamoo.

I have written extensively about those something and somethings that occupy our time aboard and we don’t hold a grudge against Kalunamoo. After all, we are abiding by the prime directive of retirement – have something to do. No regrets, and we are thankful for the constantly evolving somethings.

But this is not about that. This is about vacations. Vacations are the requisite pursuit of a change of circumstances, temporarily replacing the routine with novel surroundings to reclaim a certain psychological adjustment and acceptance of an otherwise, at best, mundane or at worst an intolerable life venue.

It comes to this. Our life venue, as mentioned above includes the relentlessly warm Caribbean sun, the absolutely perfect water temperatures, the rhum that’s always smooth and potent, and the pleasures that always flow. What adjustments are needed? But that is not really important. What is important is the substitution of your routine with novel surroundings.

So with that in mind, we are off on a vacation. We will find that these novel surroundings require quite a bit of adjustments on our side. The first that comes to mind is the amount and type of clothing that is required. I understand that outside air temperatures may actually be below 70 degrees. It will indeed be odd wearing footwear (in itself odd) that you can’t see your toes in. I hope my feet can take the loss of sand as well as I can take the added weight of heavy outerwear. The thought of lying in bed without the possibility of being tossed out of it because it tilts will be interesting. The fact that the house probably will not wander off with us in it may keep me up at night. We are not sure if the sound of rain wouldn’t compel us to close every open window, especially those on the roof.

Of course, we will be with family and friends that we do miss (Disclaimer – the previous statement, although accurate, implies a certain negativity on our part that may not apply at all times). Christmas and New Year’s is a wonderful time that we love sharing with loved ones (Disclaimer – we are flying back before the New Year). But the time we are there, our vacation will recharge our mental state to face the rigors of life in Paradise – the relentlessly warm Caribbean sun, the absolutely perfect water temperatures, the rhum that’s always smooth and potent, and the pleasures that always flow (Disclaimer – sometimes the rhum is not that smooth).

No doubt we will enjoy our vacation and wish we could spend more time with those who live so far away. But, like all vacations, their end is always bittersweet. The return to the drudgery of relentlessly warm Caribbean sun, the absolutely perfect water temperatures, the rhum that’s always smooth and potent, and the pleasures that always flow will be faced with stout perseverance and forbearance. When is the next vacation?