Sunrise on Oahu’s North Shore.
The Incredible Sweetness of Being, Part Nine
I unplugged for this vacation. My husband, Rich, and I flew to Hawaii to visit my daughter, Elaine, her husband, Rob, their boys, Cadence and Sawyer, and Little Miss Kidney Bean, due to be born in September. They’re stationed at Pearl Harbor, for now, but a move to Guam is in the works.
Flying over an ocean to reach your child’s home is an object lesson all its own. I didn’t want to bury my nose in anything but tropical breezes and baby skin during this visit.
Five dear blogging friends agreed to cover this space with guest posts. A labor of love is still labor, you know? Freedom from regular posting here inspired me to reduce my involvement with other battery-operated items, too. I peeked at my email each morning, but didn’t read anything non-essential. I posted a few pictures on Facebook, but didn’t read many status updates. And I downloaded photos from our camera to the computer. I used my cell phone, but only occasionally, usually to check in with my daughter to see if she needed anything when we returned to the house.
At home, email and Facebook swallow downtime whole. On vacation, without a beckoning screen, I filled downtime with tickle attacks on a giggling toddler, long talks with Cadence, who is about to finish kindergarten, unhurried conversations with my husband, my daughter, my son-in-law. We drove to the ocean. We went out for shave ice. I napped. Cadence and I went to the playground, just the two of us.
Did I mention I napped?
Choosing to marginalize email, blogs, and Facebook for ten days dumped me right into the real life happening all around me. It affected all my senses, profoundly. It freed me to be with my family without a sense that Something Else was waiting on me, growing Bigger and Bigger the longer I neglected It.
Life felt different. It carried a weight all its own, and a unique fragrance. Over the next several posts, I’ll be sharing some of my observations from this brief respite into (mostly) unplugged living.
Better one handful with tranquillity
than two handfuls with toil
and chasing after the wind.
Ecclesiastes 4:6 (NIV)
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