The Vacation at Home

I have recently put in a request for my first week of vacation for 2009. Know where I'm going? Nowhere. That's right y'all, I am staying put, and having a vacation at home.

Now in past years, there have been many trips that required my passport, there have been cruises in the Mediterranean and the Bahamas, family reunions in Florida, but there is nothing on the agenda this year, and frankly (and economically) I could not be happier.

I must also say that a lot of my vacation time was used for working vacations. Dear husband is a photographer, and we have shot weddings all over the place, even Europe. Now, I'm not complaining about getting paid to work for one day and building a trip around that, but there was always an element of stress and pressure. My vacation at home will have none of that.

So, the last week of April, I will be a homebody. I will get up naturally, rather than hearing an obnoxious alarm clock.

I will do those things I have wanted to do forever, like organize my closet. That's right closet, I will control you.

I will go to the grocery store one mid-morning during the week, and stroll around the aisles, rather than hurry through the market one night after work.

I will go out to lunch with my husband, rather than eat a nuked Lean Cuisine.

I will garden. My deck consists of weathered pots and tired soil with the last remants of last year's herbs. I will bring it back to life.

And most of all I will have the quiet enjoyment of my home. I have never had a vacation like this, and it might just be the best one ever.