On my last full day of vacation, I thought it appropriate to blog the experience. If for no other reason than I rarely write to my personal blog any longer given my other work-related social media activities.
This has been a wonderful vacation and I am particularly pleased that I was able to relax and enjoy every moment. Well, perhaps not the second round of golf, which was an astoundingly bad display of athleticism. Golfers will appreciate that one can hit the ball beautifully one day and descend into horrific regression just two days later. Besides that little blip, the entire week was wonderful. We are staying in a lovely beach house in the "city" of Holmes Beach, which is on Anna Maria Island (AMI). AMI is about a thirty minute drive from Sarasota and has a lovely old-fashioned feel to it. It brings back memories of my childhood vacations to the east coast of Florida, yet the gulf coast is much more picturesque. The sand is softer and whiter than any I have ever seen and the water can be pale green and amazingly clear on calm days. We have experienced windy and somewhat cool temps on the island, so the water has been choppy on most days.
With the exception of golf, our days have been spent taking morning walks, lounging on the beach and taking short jaunts into the larger cities. On our first full day, we visited the Ringling Museum of Art (and Circus). The Ringlings were quite the influential family in Sarasota and the complex which houses the museums and mansion is impressive. I couldn't help thinking of the book "Water for Elephants" while touring the circus museum. As you can imagine, the story told in the museum shone a much more positive light on that history. We quickly moved to the art museum and the mansion, which was my favorite part of the entire complex.
Our favorite dining experience was at The Sign of the Mermaid, a charming restaurant a block from our house. The house was built in 1912 and was very kitschy in decor. The food was excellent and will get my highest review on TripAdvisor. We also loved Ginny's and Jane E's, which is a quirky little gift shop and coffee house. Finally, Hurricane Hank's in a small strip center had good food and a friendly vibe. The famous Sand Bar has great cocktails, but the food is just OK.
The question of work arises. I'd like to say that I never looked at my email and, if I did, I never answered. I'm afraid that wasn't possible as I have two consulting gigs next week, one in Chicago and one in New York. So, I had to at least pay attention to what was going on for these engagements. And, yes, I read every email that came my way. But, none of this resulted in excessive stress or disturbed my relaxation.
Finally, I observed that even the mundane things - driving around town, picking up groceries, doing dishes - were more palatable. Simply because I had that "holiday" mindset. I pondered this phenomenon and wondered about happiness and contentment. I read the following passage from the book "One Thousand White Women" (great book) and I really stuck with me. The quote is from a rough and ready frontier gal in response to a question by the protagonist in regards to being happy.
"An' that's exactly the good thing about the Injun life - you don't have to stop and think about whether or not you're 'happy' - which in my opinion is a highly overrated human condition invented by white folks - like whiskey. You don't have to think about it any more than a bear cub or a pronghorn antelope or a coyote or a damn bird has to think about it. You got a roof over your head? You warm? You got enough food to eat? You got plenty of good water? You got a good man? You got friends? You got somethin' to do to keep you busy?"
I think that about sums it up. Yep...I'm pretty happy.
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