The Absent Uncle: Vacation

As I mentioned in last week’s column, I am on vacation and have been for the past couple of weeks.

My wife and I have been going to the same resort for the most of the past 20 years. Our son can’t figure out why we don’t explore new places and I am trying to figure out why we take a vacation from retirement.

But as I think about it, there is a difference between retirement and a vacation (from retirement). It’s subtle and includes a change of scenery, routines, and the people you interact with. (And the cost.)

As I said earlier, we have been coming to this resort for the last 20 years. It is a fixed week, fixed villa resort, which means you always have the same room(s) at the same time of the year, and almost the best part is that the same people you have met in the past are there with you again.  

It changes a bit, but for the most part we can count on seeing couples we have met and enjoyed the company of in the past years. We stay loosely in touch through the year to confirm who might be there or might miss because of life’s conflicts, but this is our vacation family – about 10 couples of roughly the same age. I probably wouldn’t recognize them without beach wear on, plus we just never get around to talking about our day to day lives away from here, nor do we discuss the events of the controversial world around us. Family, health, good books, and food. Stories from our lives’ history and memories. Those are the main subjects.  

Now I admit, as I talked about in a previous column (Overheard), not all people are as disciplined about non-discussion of current events as those we hang out with, but for the most part – the world is left behind.

That, my friends, is a vacation.