My Dream Vacation

FRIDAY FANTASY

This is how it starts.  My dream vacation.  On Amtrak.

While many people would choose to fly, I want to see things along the way, not just clouds.  Driving would work.  That's the way it was done when I was growing up.  Our family vacations were often two weeks, and stopped at all kinds of places on the way.  My mother enjoyed waterfalls and caves.  We stopped at them all.  I swear we did.  After a while, one waterfall looked much like the last one, at least to me.  The same for caves, mountains, and the usual nature things.  But I did see a lot of this glorious country.  Looking back to those long ago decades, I wouldn't trade them for anything.

I want to do it by train.  I'll start out by travelling to Chicago, the real point of departure to my trip back into history.  With luck, I'll take my youngest daughter with me.  The others have responsibilities.  We don't.  Of course that isn't true, but they've had the advantage of being older and traveled some before baby sister was born.  It's her turn now.

After a quick tour of Chicago (I was there in 1999 and saw virtually nothing), we'll travel to Boston.  I already have a list of things to see and do.  In no special order:

• Old North Church
• Boston Harbor
• Beacon Hill
• Boston Athenaeum, the oldest, largest, independent, private library in the U.S.
• Boston Commons
• Boston Light, 2nd oldest lighthouse in the U.S
• Fareuil Hall
• Freedom Trail
• Harvard

My oldest visited Boston a few years ago.  A work-related trip, she didn't get to see much.  In fact, it was so late and so dark, they weren't sure where they were.  Come to find out, the were behind Old North Church, where dog tags of veterans hang.  It took some time for them to realize that, and also to discover they'd also driven by Harvard Library.

After Boston?  We'll ride on to the Big Apple.  New York City.  I've been there twice.  The first time with my parents in 1964. I was a preteen and remember Radio City Music Hall, climbing the winding iron steps to the crown of the Statue of Liberty, the U.N.,and going to the 1964 World's Fair.  We stayed at the historic Plaza Hotel, across the street from Central Park.  My second trip was in 2003, and I can now proudly say that I managed to navigate the subway and even rode it on my own aka no friends along.  The subway took me from near the hotel where I stayed to Ground Zero and three blocks away to Harlequin NY Headquarters at the historic Woolworth Building.


This dream trip will include the following:

• Empire State Building
• Statue of Liberty
• Grand Central Terminal (a given, since riding the train)
• Rockefeller Center
• Radio City Music Hall
• Broadway & Times Square
• The Neighborhoods of Lower Manhattan
• The World Trade Center Site, because I saw it in 2003 when it was Ground Zero.
• And SHOPPING!

After NYC, we'll travel south to Philadelphia, the cradle of our democracy.  By now my feet will be hurting, but the things to see will far outweigh a few blisters.

• The Franklin Institute
• Liberty Bell Center
• Independence Hall
• Old Pine Street Presbyterian Church
• National Constitution Center
• Everything possible on Independence Mall

Last stop of the trip.  Washington, DC.  This is a can't miss.  I've been there twice, the first visit as a small child.  All I remember is the Lincoln Memorial, so the trip in 2000 with Kathie and Charlie DeNosky was a joy.  I had the opportunity on this second visit to break out of my mold of not straying at the RWA Conference hotel and do a little sightseeing.  I hopped on the Metro, but forgot my camera, with a zipped storage bag of momentos.  My destination?  The National Mall, and especially The Wall.  This dream time will include many, many more things to see.

• The entire Washington Mall:  Vietnam Memorial, Korean War Memorial (an absolute must-see, breathtaking memorial), Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, WWII Memorial, Washington Monument
• The Smithsonian
• The Capitol
• The White House
• Every other memorial on the National Mall
• Holocaust Museum

Then comes the trip home, and I haven't decided which kind of transportation we'll use.  That will come later.  Whatever it is, we'll need time to digest all the wonderful and historic places we've seen.

Do you see a pattern in my choices?  DC, Philly and Boston?  The places mentioned in those three cities were part of the movie, National Treasure.  I through NYC in there, because why miss something when you're that close?

Will we ever take this trip.  Yes!  I don't know when, but I do know we will.  But first we'll need to watch National Treasure and National Treasure 2 again, for a brush-up.  Then do some studying.  History will come to life.

Who wants to come along?

Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done. ~ Louis D. Brandeis

It's Not What You Think

No, I was not on vacation last week, although I truly wish I had been.  Sometimes work and deadlines and family completely take over life, and other things must take a backseat.  In fact, I shouldn't even be here writing a blog.  I should be working, but my conscience is bothering me, so, well, here I am.

It's a good thing February is a short month.  By the weekend, we'll have run the four weeks of the second month of this new year and be on our way to what will hopefully be spring.

Does anyone remember Spring?

We've been on a long run of cold and ultra-cold this winter.  Polar Vortexes, included.  I'm yearning for warm.  Not hot, mind you, but a nice 75-80 degrees to thaw my feet, hands, nose...  On the other hand, as I complain about the cold, and the snow, and the sub-zero temps, I realize that it could have been worse.  I could live in the Northeast. ;)  Blessings to all of you who have had a rough winter.  May you thaw quickly and soon!

I'm impatiently waiting to see the first green buds on trees.  They will come, as they always do each year, but sometimes the wait seems eternal.  Spring, it's been said, is eternal, but this year I'd have to say that Winter has been.  This week is supposed to be another cold one.  Not frigid, as some of them in the past couple of months have been, but still cold enough to wish for a few more days of 60 degrees, when a jacket is all that's needed.  I'm more than ready to put away the long, down coat, gloves, three pairs of socks and the rest of the layering.  I yearn to sit barefoot at my computer.  If I tried that now, I'd have a severe case of frostbite.  I'll even try to be grateful when my 6" fan, buzzing away on my desk, is needed to keep me cool.  And I know it won't be long until I'm complaining about unstable weather and threats of tornadoes, along with power outages.  Although I hope this year those outages don't cause another computer monitor to die.  Which reminds me, I need to find a chimney for my oil lamp.  One more thing to add to an ever-growing list of needs, thanks to the weather.

As I sit here, I gaze longingly at the photo above.  How I would love to have a hammock, where I could rest and dream!  I've been so busy, even dreaming has crowded into that backseat with work and deadlines and family.  But I have given myself permission to watch college basketball.  Our beloved WSU Shockers are now the only undefeated team in the nation.  I'm convinced that's the only thing that has kept me from complete insanity.

Oh, have no fear.  By May I'll be whining about storms and tornadoes.  By mid July it will be the heat.  By August it will be the need for school to start again.  If only I could learn how to accept and enjoy each season, each turn in life as it speeds by, faster and faster.  Maybe I'll work on that...when  spring arrives.  And maybe, if I'm really, really lucky, I'll get a vacation, even if it's a working vacation.

Now back to trying to dream about that hammock and the beautiful beach with a gentle, cooling, tropical breeze...  Dream on!

I'd like to dial it back 5% or 10% and try to have a vacation that's not just e-mail with a view. ~ Elon Musk

On the First Day of Christmas Vacation...

'Tis the Season to Be Grinchy

♪ ♫ ♪ On the first day of Christmas vacation, my family gave to me--♫ ♫ ♪
  ♪ 1 four-year-old who never stops talking or screaming
  ♫ 1 six-year-old who down't know how to speak without shouting
   ♪ 1 nine-year-old who can't understand that "no bouncing the soccer ball in the house" means NO BOUNCING THE SOCCER BALL IN THE HOUSE
   ♫ 1 eleven-year-old who has taken the art of arguing to a whole new level.


My youngest daughter put up our Christmas tree a little over a week ago.  She took it down last night.  That four-year-old thinks the decorations are toys to stick in the sofa, under the TV, or even out the front door.  The boys (6 & 9) think the trashcan is a basketball goal.  Correction: A soccer-ball goal, because they destroyed the basketball long ago.  I'm waiting for the sound of breaking glass.  I've already mopped up the overflow in the bathroom.  And the day isn't over yet, but at least it's half over.

I was born without an abundance of patience.  Or maybe I was, but it's all been used over the past 8+ years, since I offered my daughter of two children, at the time, childcare.  Then came another and another.  I raised four of my own, so I understand how caring for children can run the gamut from terrifying to terrific.  I didn't expect an apocalypse of disasters.  We had our own, many that could have been avoided, but yielded a lesson.  My two oldest daughters learned, after playing with and breaking something that didn't belong to them "for the last time," that mom had a breaking point.  Years later, one Pound Puppy is still missing an ear, and a Cabbage Patch doll an arm.  I can take a lot of abuse, but there's a limit.  They reached it that day, and it's something they've never forgotten.  What we have forgotten is what it was they broke to cause me to lose my cool.

Let's face it, mothers are human.  So are kids.  We all make mistakes, we all lose our temper, although as infrequently as possible.  I'm trying to hold on to mine today.  That, and my mind.

But tomorrow is Saturday, and the little darlings will be gone for the weekend in only a few hours.  I get a reprieve...until Monday, when we'll start all over again.  This year school is out for the holidays for seventeen days.  Yes, that's right, 17.  When I was in school--during the Dark Ages--we were lucky to get ten, and that happened when Christmas fell on Wednesday, as it does this year.

Wait!  There's no sound of a bouncing soccer ball, only the sounds of Family Guy, coming from the living room.  Oh, and a shout from the 6-year-old, but that's not uncommon.  They must be gathering strength for the next wave.  I, on the other hand, am dreaming of tomorrow, when I'll be attending the first college basketball game I've been to in thirty years.  Floor seats.  Under the basket.  On ESPN2.  MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!   I'll get to be the one screaming and shouting, jumping up and down, and maybe catching a basketball, although it might very well be in the face.

Such is life.  It's never a smooth road, but at least it's paved with good intentions and sprinkled with wonder.

Stress Reduction

FACT: Stress is one of those things we all deal with.  (Yes, I ended the sentence with a preposition.)

The past two weeks have proven to be one of the more stressful times of this year for me.  And there's another one to follow next week.  Not only am I starting a new book with a deadline for the proposal (first 3 chapters and full synopsis) next month, but one of my daughters is getting married a week from Saturday.  Any woman who has been involved with a wedding knows how that is.  Factor in the usual get-grandkids-to-school and back (3 schools, 5 kids ranging from Pre-K to middle school), which normally is handled with a minimum of teeth gnashing.  Not so, over the past two weeks.  It gets worse.  Thanks to three half-days for the three grade-schoolers and three days off for the pre-k'er, last week, my normal schedule (and body/brain rhythm) has taken a beating.  This week is was the middle-schooler with two early-outs, and all of them out for today and tomorrow.  Next week...well, there's that wedding and all the last minute details.

Yes, I want to bang my head on my desk.  Most of my writing has been done on a yellow pad, while I sit and wait for school to be out--at whatever the particular time.  I finally finished the first scene last night, after several days of writing.  It's hard to get into the heads of characters, while running here and there, jotting notes--when paper & pen are available, and finding more than fifteen minutes of uninterrupted time.

And today is my youngest daughter's birthday.

Such is life.

Or for those who are into French, c'est la vie.

Why have I not offed myself or emptied my bank account for a one-way ticket to a private island?  Well, other than not owning a private island or knowing someone who does, the offing part doesn't thrill me, and the bank account might pay for gas to the airport.

There are ways to beat stress and keep the pounding headache, suicidal thoughts, and need to escape the here-and-now at bay.  I've used several of them.

Walking

I did this last year in the morning.  Early morning, although definitely after the sun came up.  There's a small park nearby, with a walking track.  Five times around netted me two miles a day.  Two miles and over a half hour of a brain and body workout.  My Mp3 player is loaded with upbeat music, excellent for starting the day.  I could think...or not.  And even when I didn't think, things floated through my mind without bidding.  Good things.  Like the opening of the book I just finished writing that will be winging its way to my editor within the hour.

Music

I'm not sure what I would do without music.  It's been a part of my life for as long as I remember.  Just a few notes can take me back to good times in the past.  I skip the ones that take me back to bad times.  A lively song has the power to get me on my feet, and I start moving.  A slower song can often lift my spirits.  Music also drowns out the sounds of children. ;)

Deep Breathing

It's hard to be tense when blowing out a deep breath.  Use it when those tense-filled times happen, and stress can be nipped in the bud.  Breathe in through the nose, and blow out through the mouth.  Do it slowly.  Focus on what you're doing, instead of whatever is causing  the tension.  It works great in the midst of an argument.  If that doesn't work, walk away and take a walk, while listening to your favorite music.  Don't choose something to listen to that will bring you down.

Meditation

I know, I know.  Who has time?  That's exactly what I thought...until I tried it.  I may not be proficient at it, but as it is with everything, practice helps.  Carve out ten to twenty minutes a day, morning or night, and you'll find yourself thinking more clearly, sleeping more soundly, and all the big things that are driving you crazy will become smaller.  I've found that guided meditation works best for me...at least for now.  Deepak Chopra is my favorite and often offers 21-day guided meditations online for free.  Other options are available online at no charge.  Find something you like, whether it be guided our on your own.  Because mornings can be hectic here, no matter how early I crawl out of bed, I've been doing my meditations at night.  Instead of lying awake in bed, until the wee hours of the morning, I'm falling asleep quickly and don't often deal with waking during the night.  I'm sure my blood pressure has lowered, too.

Yoga

This one didn't work for me, probably because my body doesn't want to bend in the shapes needed.  Weak wrists that don't hold me up are my downfall.  And I do mean down fall.  But I know people who swear to it, and if it didn't require twisting myself into shapes, I'd try it again.  There's a plus.  Yoga and meditation can go hand in hand.

Mini-Vacations

This is the most difficult.  Sometimes there aren't two or three days available to put ourselves in a new and different environment.  Sometimes all it takes is a day with friends, shopping, talking, seeing a movie, or even checking into a local hotel to read a book, catch up on sleep or maybe even take a swim.  I lucked out when a friend offered me a mini-vacation at her home.  We spent the evening watching movies, talking, and imbibing in some spirits...the drinking kind, not the ghostly ones.  After a restful night of sleep, I was grateful for the few hours of getaway.  I've spent weekends with another friend, who was one of BFFs in high school.  Sometimes just getting away from our usual environment can make a big difference.

Exercise

Some people swear by a regular exercise schedule.  It's something I tell myself that I should be doing.  But, alas, it hasn't happened.  Whether done at a gym, in your bedroom, or in front of your TV, it's one of the best forms of killing stress.  Then there's that added benefit of losing weight or toning your body, in addiction to stress reduction.  A win-win situation.

Reading

This is one thing I wish I had more time to do, but when I start reading, I can't stop.  And reading until 3 a.m. causes drowsiness and fatigue when I have to get up at 7 a.m., quickly leading to more stress.  But it is something I try to do when I'm not working on a writing or web designing deadline.  I've filled my Kindle with books to read, but the chance to read doesn't come often.  Still, I'll grab it in a nano-second when the opportunity presents itself.  Reading is an escape, and all it takes is to banish stress, at least for a while is to finish a good book.

Those are only a few suggestions.  Some people choose hobbies to take them away from "the real world."  Try different things and see what works best for you.  And if you've found something not listed above, please share!

Stress can kill, if not our bodies, our minds and our creative spirit.

Take time for yourself.  Demand it, if necessary.  Steal it, if nothing else works.

The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another. ~ William James