The Need for a Change of Pace

The girls and I are on vacation this week, staying at the Caribe Royale near Disney, and while we took in a couple of Disney parks, rode some rides, and ate way too much food, one of the things we did is absolutely my favorite thing to do on vacation. We simply sat by the pool at night, a drink in one hand, a book in the other. There was only a handful of people in the pool, mostly teen boys trying to coax Dylan into the pool. However, she wasn’t budging from her mother’s side where the two of them sat on the edge of the pool, feet dangling into the water. Char, Teri, and I were stretched out on the chaise lounge chairs, leaning back and holding our books. I say holding because, for me, I simply stared out at the pool thinking back to days when my parents used to take us on vacation, and they would be doing the exact same thing. My dad would sit there with his Jack and Coke while my sister and I swam around in the pool. It was always late at night, sometimes past midnight, and as long as you were quiet no one really cared that you were there when the pool was technically closed. I mean, come on, who goes on vacation from eight to ten? Part of the fun is swimming out under the stars when the whole place is quiet.

So, as I said, I sat there, my book open in my lap as I watched the others, the teen boys showing off and splashing around, the ladies beside me relaxing and sipping their cocktails, the mother rolling her eyes at her son who somehow lost his brother. The clock was nearing eleven, and no one showed any signs of leaving. The night was cool, and the moon held a Cheshire Cat grin to it as it hung there in the night sky. Even with the noise the teen boys were making, the area was quiet. Tranquil. A much-needed break from the hustle and bustle of our ever day lives. I’m sure my father thought the same thing as he sat there, his drink in his hand as he watched my sister and me goofing off in the pool. My father owned his own company, and one of the perils of that was being on-call all the time, so we would take short getaways, just one or two nights, stay at a hotel where there was no phone for people to call him, and forget the world around us. At the time, my sister and I didn’t care why we were getting away; we simply enjoyed it while we could. Now, I can completely appreciate the need to turn off and sneak away. When my own boys were small, we did the same thing, sneaked off to a hotel, turned off the phones, and just sat by the pool while the boys played mermen.

Part of the reason we’re on this little excursion is because I just needed to get away for a while—out of the house, out of town, out of the loop. I needed new surroundings and peaceful nights that jarred us out of our normal routines. We listen to music, rarely ever turn on the television in our room, and usually find some spot in the resort to sit and chill or an umbrella-covered table by the pool for me while the girls lay out turning themselves not lobsters. A change of pace. The girls can usually tell when I’m in need of this little break, and soon, they’ve scheduled a trip somewhere close but different enough to seem like we’re miles away. How about you? Do you ever feel that way? You just need a change of scenery, change of pace? Do any of your excursions away remind you of when you were younger? If so, write me back and share them with me. I’d love to hear about them.

Until next time, happy reading,