It is time to get away from it all. The specter of COVID-19 is waning, and the echo of a very tough year is beginning, for many at least, to fade off into the canyon of history. The sun is shining, and the trees again boast their foliage. Still, the nagging challenges of our daily ritual cast a shadow over us. We need a vacation.
Where will we go? For many of those among us, no kids mean footloose choice. For others, we pack the little ones into the truckster and head to all points of the compass. For those whose nest has emptied, perhaps this is the year for the dream trip — long awaited and much imagined. Or maybe, our plans will take us to visit friends and family, always missed but especially longed for during the lockdowns and travel restrictions. Could we go to the lake again, or is it the summer to visit our college roommate who long ago repaired to some small town out west to pursue her fortune?
Whatever the destination, we pack up, pull out and decamp. With each mile, our recollection of the domestic stresses of difficult customers and the slowly leaking toilet in the guest bath blur into the distance. We set out for new territory, with new faces and a new attitude. The rules of ordinary life seem more relaxed at some distance from home.
Alas, the phone rings, email dings, and text brings us right back to the office. While we are blessed to enjoy the long tether of the modern age, it is just that, a tether, giving us a prolonged leash but never fully setting us free. And we like it, mostly. In a world where we can increasingly be anywhere at any time, will there be need for an old-school vacation?
