Vacation state-of-mind

By Christine Haines

                                       

Vacation is a state of mind, and holding onto that thought, I may be on vacation a good bit of December.

You see, I still have some vacation days left, but I really don’t have any travel plans, so it really doesn’t matter when I use them. I really try to avoid excessive driving in the winter, ever since I got stuck in an ice storm on the interstate while driving to Virginia. It wasn’t pleasant.

Oh, I could take a whole day off, but I would feel guilty just lying around the house. I’d feel obligated to work on some project or another, so while I wouldn’t be at the office, I’d still be working and that’s not what vacations are all about.

It seems to me that vacation time ought to be relaxing. This summer when I didn’t have an opportunity to get away on vacation, I planned a mini vacation to the Pittsburgh Zoo. I considered it vacationing by the hour.

 With that in mind, I’ve come up with a plan for my remaining vacation hours — each hour becomes a potential vacation and every day is a potential vacation day.

Yep, if I’m not at my desk don’t think of me as late for work, I’m just on vacation. Check back in an hour, I may be back.

I put that theory into practice a week ago and it really worked. It was relaxing. It gave me a chance to sleep in, catch up on recreational reading, take long lunches with friends and periodically leave work early so I didn’t have to rush to get to an after-work event.

 It was nice. I highly recommend it.

Share your vacations with me by e-mailing chris@howyouspinit.com.

Check other entertainment options at www.howyouspinit.com.