Clinging to Good Times

Daryl!

We arrived home from Sedona (OSP) the other day. We were tired from road food, so we sat down to a couple of warm, watery beers and frozen dinners and watched an episode of The Walking Dead before heading to sleep.

When I awoke, I was conscious of being so content. I am not prone to mood swings, so when I notice feelin' something other than my consistently OK nature I try to take notice. The day just seemed.... expansive. I would have breakfast with the man-type and read the Margaret Atwood novel I just started while sitting on the sofa. When I got hungry, I'd go pick a few things up from the store. And it would still be early in the day!

The morning started off just as I thought it would. I read, but then familiar thoughts started seeping in. "You should check your work email!" "You should get the store over with now." "Why aren't you at yoga, lazy?" I failed to bat them away and found myself scrolling through the dozens of work emails that had piled up while I was away. Before I knew it, I was at the grocery store, ambling through brightly-lit aisles, tossing products I didn't really need into the cart. By the time I was home, my brain was already racing with ideas I could use in the classroom, assessing how much work I needed before the semester started.

Really, it's OK that I'm back in work mode. It's especially palpable now that the first week of classes is over. But there's something so wonderful about that sense of expansiveness that can come in when we set aside our responsibilities to connect with the people we love and to the world around us. I've been told that there are ways to remind us of those good times.

They say that the reason we enjoy vacations so much is because we've invested time into planning them. By the time we get there, it would be foolish to complain about the food or lodging, or to not appreciate every wonderful moment there is. I've been told to put effort into remembering good times by creating a place of rotating photos, of eating in restaurants that remind us of a fun night out. I'll have to think about that.... right after I check my work email :-)