Sunday, July 3, 2016

Author Takes A Holiday

Today I pretty much did nothing but ordinary stuff around the house, and I ran a few errands.

I work full time as a medical secretary and we have six paid holidays per year. The Fourth of July is one of the six. Holidays usually pass in a blur and then I'm back at work.

That's why I didn't do much of anything today. Normally, even on holidays, I'm doing housework or writing. I never actually have a holiday where I enjoy myself and relax. I've never had a vacation where I can relax because we end up renting a condo, cooking meals in the condo which means I have to empty the dishwasher, and I do laundry in the condo as well. I still do housework, even when we're "on vacation." My husband doesn't get this as he lays on the couch and just watches TV from sun up to sundown. He's on vacation doing absolutely nothing. I'm doing housework, running to the grocery store, folding clothes...Hello! I can do the same things at home.

My husband's idea of a day trip is picking a destination and driving straight there, visiting that place and then driving straight back. He has tunnel vision while driving- nothing else catches his attention or entices him to stop or pullover. I have to complain that I'm hungry and order him to stop someplace so Kelly and I can get food. I'm a diabetic and my blood sugar goes low when I skip meals. He can skip meals, and must be part camel, too, because he's never thirsty either. And he never has to use the bathroom, evidently. I have to yell at him to stop for a bathroom break or he won't ever stop driving.

I know, I should drive, but he thinks he's the better driver and the only one who can competently deliver us directly to our destination. He gets lost a lot. He misses turns although I give him plenty of warning that a turn is up ahead. He'll blow right by it and then get mad...because he's looking straight ahead, because the car behind him is driving too close and will hit him if he applies the brakes and slows down, that I didn't tell him sooner enough...I must be chock full of screams I have choked back through the years. Yet, he won't let me drive- even though we use my SUV for trips.

I haven't had a vacation since I was a little girl. (I know, my mother probably never had a real vacation either...if you have kids there's no such thing as a real vacation because kids are a lot of work and require your time and attention...)

This year I don't think we'll take a vacation because he's been laid off for four-plus months now and doesn't want to waste any money we have in savings. He really hasn't had much in the way of interviews. According to him all job applications are initiated online. He sits at the computer all day and searches for jobs- but only jobs in his comfort zone. He doesn't want to move, even though there is no valid reason why we cannot move to where a job may be located. He's has issues about new things, new places. He has no sense of adventure, no desire to go anywhere but less than a days travel away from home. I did not marry a pioneer or a man who enjoys adventure and change, new sights, sounds and experiences. I married a man who lives in a cozy box of his own making that he isn't compelled to step outside of.

Therefore, today I took a mental holiday, not a physical holiday. Today I took a journey into my imagination- not the imagination where all my writing comes from, but my personal imagination where I can travel wherever I want to go and do whatever I want to do and relax when I get there.

Tomorrow is the actual holiday- tomorrow I'll be preparing for the week ahead. My holiday ends tomorrow morning when I roll out of bed.


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