A Break (Aug. 20 '25)
Last month we went on an actual vacation. It’s been a while — I think the last time I took a week off was at Christmas, so aside from a few long weekends, I’d been running nonstop for a while.
We’d had all sorts of ideas for what we wanted to do — return to Switzerland for three weeks and work remotely for part of the time, take a road trip up to Québec City through Montréal — but June was rough and we didn’t have it in us to do any logistics. Finally, I said, Let’s go to Maine. I just want to be by the ocean.
The child had never been to Maine, and A & I hadn’t visited in about 15 years. After over a decade living near Lac Léman, I miss being close to water.
So we got a small cottage that was across the street from the ocean — really pretty basic, but we could hear the waves and smell the salt water from the living room. I didn’t take my laptop for the first time in a very long time. I had some books and notebooks and we hiked a lot and ate good food and spent so much time outdoors. We climbed to the top of a lighthouse and took a day trip to Monhegan Island. We saw trolls. The child had lobster for the first time, with a plastic bib and a pot of melted butter. It's better without the butter, the child said. It was lovely.
The feeling lasted for about a week after I returned. And then I started to get caught upon all of the busyness and the news and everything.
Of course it’s important to know what’s going on. But it isn’t necessary to immerse oneself in all of the myriad horrors.
I’ve been trying hard — for the past week and a half, at least — since realizing how quickly that rundown feeling had returned — to spend less time online, to take more time for myself, and to get some in-person time with friends. I need grown-up time that isn’t on the sidelines of a soccer game or at a committee meeting of some sort.
And I realized that I don’t get outside nearly enough. And I need it. So this is a reminder as the school year is about to begin — to take time for myself and to take time in general. As I regularly remind the child: Ce n’est pas une course.
