Video Meliora, proboque; Deteriora sequor

A Vacation Auld Lang Syne

It’s a cold, rainy, windswept day. A planned hike at P. Oaks was abruptly abandoned. My wife wondered, “are we having fun yet?” and asked me the same in so many words. We turned around and our dog looked at us quizzically, staring at us as if with paws on hips. A butchering wind was persuasive and we called him & headed back home. Perhaps it’s fitting, the weather a sharp reminder of reality, the reality of our peaceful vacation’s end. The Romans hated February, making it a short month, but January has to be a contenda'.

These few days were wonderful in their homeopathic, wholistic rest, the sort of rest that could only be achieved by a back ache and being on the cusp of a cold & fever. Sick days are the days the muse can enfold, when I give myself permission to read unserious books like “American Brew” or watch NBC’s “Spanning the World” for the most humorous sports faux paus. This time, as my back improved, I reinvented the library shelves ala William Gladstone, toting books here and there in order to spring precious rosewood space.

The days behind seem idyllic, the high point being lunch in Dublin followed by a deep high-dive into the books at Barnes & Noble’s. My wife ran some errands beforehand and did not rush me when she did come. She set up camp her own self next to my camp, a chair outside the pets & travel sections (though my chair didst inexcusably vanish while I was on a book-hunting expedition). She leisurely chose among books and maps on Spain, her business destination in a mere week. The sun on the way home felt like our birthright, as it matched our vacational mood. The next day dawned just as brightly and I burnt the perfume-wood of errant tree branches after a nap in the green outdoor chair. Time didn’t exactly stop but I felt the healthy cushion of days to follow. The cushion was mostly illusory as it often is; the days went by in a hurry and were half-filled with social obligations and poor weather but it was enough to have a couple days that were peaceful and unhurried with the prospect of more to follow.