My darling husband celebrated his 41st birthday last week, and as usual, he took a week away from the office. This break didn’t come a moment too soon – it was much needed in order to keep our weary heads from imploding.
I’ve mentioned my mother-in-law’s cancer… that situation is not improving at all, which is worrisome, to say the very least. Besides the stress and management of what that has entailed over the last several months, we’re now facing an epic job of brickwork on the outside of our house. Some of that work might have to be INSIDE our house too… specifically in the kitchen. There’s a good chance that an entire wall might have to come down. It’s going to be more than expensive. Le sigh.
I needed a few days to cure my own broken head and broken heart, over the hurts of friends near and dear to me… things you can’t talk about, or write about, or do anything to fix, ease, or repair… desperate feelings during desperate times that make a lady feel helpless as she wrings her hands and wills the universe to fix things, please…
Anyway.
So away we went for a four-night hotel stay in Mont-Tremblant hotel (we found an excellent deal through Travel Zoo) which was lakeside, with indoor and outdoor swimming pools, plus a spa tub, with breakfast included. Heaven, I tell you.
I love hotels because though this one bedroom suite had a kitchenette, I didn’t cook a single thing the whole time we were gone. We would rise late in the morning after tossing granola bars and/or cheese sticks at earlier-rising children, and venture to the hotel dining room with the quintessential buffet repast of eggs, pancakes, bacon, ham, and sausage, along with all the fruit, yogurt, breakfast cereals, and varieties of baked goods one could possibly want or require. Thank goodness for jeans that s-t-r-e-t-c-h.
Afterwards, we rolled our stuffed selves out to the pool to swim and lounge, or had a walk down to the lake to check out the frogs and tadpoles, zooming dragonflies and darting minnows, until mid-afternoon when we’d go back to our room and prepare a light lunch of snack-like things we brought with us – salami, camembert, pate, cucumbers and baby carrots, hummus and almonds, baguette (and rice crackers for Mr. Gluten-free), with lemonade or iced tea for the small people, and a crisp, cold glass of sauvignon blanc for the big people. We ate on the balcony overlooking the pool, and it was sunny every day.
And then we’d nap.
And then we’d go back to the pool or lake for a while, until coming back to the room to clean up for dinner (I wore a sheer blouse every evening) before driving into the nearby town for dinner out. Even if we hadn’t been served before 8:30 PM, the children were well behaved and ate all that was in their plates. We’re new to eating out as a family… it felt good to have hassle-free experiences. That’s all I really want.
Sometimes we swam again before bed. The children stayed up until well after 10 PM, and watched movies before passing out. We grown-folk sat on the balcony with the iPad, gazing at stars with the aid of awesome star-finding apps, listened to excellent music, and finished the bottle of wine.
Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
(Oh, and there was lots of sex. Yay for me.)
This type of vacation is ideal for a person like me because there was nothing else to do but sit. Sit and watch the children swim. Sit and try to read a book while keeping an eye on said children in the pool, screaming, “Watch me, mummy!!” over and over again. Sit by the lake while Madame played with wet sand, stuffing in into her tiny orange Crocs, and placing them into a make-believe oven under my chair, offering me pies and cakes and sushi and coffee.
I didn’t walk a single step further than the elevator. There was nothing to “clean” except for rinsing the coffee pot, or move a wet towel from here to there. Someone else can make the beds and the breakfast, please. There was nothing to do but sit in the sun, listen to the wind, and enjoy it all.
I didn’t even bother to break out my camera, until the last day on the drive home. Even that was lovely… and quiet.
I do believe I love to be idle sometimes. It’s a change for me. It’s a change I like.
I hope we can do that again soon.
Did you get any downtime this summer? What was your favourite thing?
good girl. I love dumb dumb days- good for the soul
I like spending “work” time with my husband too… it’s a nice change, and it’s good to be together doing something different. I hope that “me” time is excellent, lady! Enjoy!!
Okay, you can share the wine. We’ll make it Oyster Bay…!!
Oh, that sounds like pure heaven on earth. Good for you!
My vacation is next week, and I will spend it in my husband’s classroom heloing him get it set up – which I like to point out, but it is actually really nice to work together as a team and just be together all week. Before that, though, I kick it off with a weekend away with most of my favourite ladies, so I feel like I’ve had some special me time!
Sounds wonderful. Sometimes life is hard. And we need a break.
This summer I’ve had a few weekends of fun and relaxation. By the time August is over I’ll need two weeks off to recover from our move! Unfortunately, that won’t be happening.
Maybe at Christmas?
I want in on the bottle of Masi! Perhaps we’ll need two…
DEAL!!
Ha ha ha. How about a bottle of Masi, instead?
It was, Jennifer… next time I’ll get a massage as well – that would be awesome. I hope you had a terrific summer too!!
Thanks, Julie – it was lovely. And I DO deserve it!! 🙂
Idas, I know. I know. I know.
My family didn’t vacation at all – we couldn’t afford to when I was young – and now I see what it takes to be able to afford such things… fully enjoying it has to be a conscious thing, but it’s not always easy. “Hurry up and relax, it’s almost over!!” I know.
I wish we could have been gone for a whole week – we’ve never done that before. Maybe one day. I hope you can get to that state of mind too, my friend. It’s a good place to be. I want to LIVE there, yo!!
Maybe in the meantime, we can just split a box of Calgon or something?! 😉
Sounds like just what the doctor ordered. I’m so glad for you not only that you got this idle vacation, but that you really appreciated it. Hope you can hold on to that vacation feeling for a little while!
thanks for sharing! you deserve a lovely time 🙂
Tracey, what a hard year. Lo siento.
I am sorry for you and Martin to undergo additional stress with an expensive renovation especially with his mom’s illness.
I am wishing for good news to be on the way and I have my fingers crossed that the brickwork remains outside.
It is so encouraging that someone so neat and put together, can let go.
In my younger years, even as a teenager, we took 4 or more weeks vacations. It was just beach and swim and eat. My dad worked overtime all year so we could be mindlessley together. I never knew what a huge luxury that was for a working class family of 4 and how much sacrifice my parents made to make it happen every summer.
Since then though, I have had a hard time even enjoying vacation as an adult because long vacations would never be in the plans again, even when my life wasn’t chaotic with kids and I could not get into a relaxed groove quickly enough.
I am so wound up from our basement restoration and regular home mess (and my OCD for clean conflicting with it), when we go away, getting out the door takes too much effort getting all together and putting it away in our still 50% disordered home is even worse. Seems any short vacation just backfires with me. I need to learn to let go better. Add that to my Zenbe list.
I hope to get to a state of mind where I can really enjoy a 4 day away like you did.
Inspiring Tracey,
gracias,
i
Oh, Tracey. Oh, lady, how I needed this today. This cancer thing sucks so hard and makes me feel so sad and broken and helpless. My family needs to run away and do nothing, too. As soon as possible.