Small Victories

For whatever reason, some things seem easier on vacation than they do at home. While not exactly earth shattering, I’ve gone outside my comfort zone in some tiny ways. Twice now I’ve eaten lunch in restaurants without reading a book. Hey, we take our victories where we can. Admittedly, I ate at the bar both times, but I still think it counts. I also decided to take a scenic route home from Old Saybrook, got a little bit lost, and didn’t care one way or the other. I knew approximately what direction I needed to go, and as it turned out I ended up making a giant circle and ended up right where I started. From there I knew exactly how to get back.

I’m learning how to realize that I can take as long as I want to get somewhere; I can detour and go somewhere else; I can do whatever I damn well please because I’m on vacation: there is nothing I have to do. So this is what relaxing feels like. It’s also kind of fun to find out that I know my way around this area better than I thought I would.

You know how sometimes you remember a place, you can see it in your mind, but when you actually go there again it’s nothing like you remember? I had the pleasant experience of finding out that my memories of this resort and of the surrounding towns are precisely accurate. The minute I walked into my unit I recognized it immediately—it was exactly the same as the one we stayed in two years ago, and furthermore it was exactly as I remembered it.