Down Time

I have had no agenda for the past week.  What a relief!  Life is so complicated these days that when you finally get a short spell where you don’t have any responsibility other than to exist and observe the world around you, it presents you with an opportunity to be open and observant.

We drove to Savannah last Sunday, with a stop overnight in Gainesville to see my youngest daughter for dinner.  Just the act of driving away from life’s circumstances releases the heaviness of the present.  I felt unencumbered and light.  All we had to do was talk and plan our week with no real schedule facing us.  We visited Caitlin and I marveled at how she has suddenly grown up!  She is enjoying her independence and is fully engaged in her life at school.  I think I saw her through unencumbered eyes for the first time because all I needed to do was to be with her without an agenda.

We were on our way the next morning to visit my wife’s cousin and watch him do some business in Savannah.  He created and manages a business that shows tour videos in hotels in major vacation cities.  He invited us to tag along with him for a few days while he shot some video, and since we have never explored Savannah, we combined that with a visit to some friends on Hilton Head Island, just a short drive further up the coast.

During our time in Savannah, my wife and I decided to take a city tour on one of the many open-air trolleys in Savannah.  In thirty years of marriage we had never done that.  Having been in the television production business for all those years, we had been to thousands of places working, but never as tourists.  What a new experience!  So for an hour and a half I was just a human blob absorbing everything without having to really concentrate.  As I listened to the tour guide droning on in the background, I dozed on and off and really didn’t care about what I was seeing or hearing.  It was divine!

Having no agenda frees your mind to dream and create possibilities.  That happens too rarely for most of us.  For the idle rich and comfortably retired, I imagine that being in the flow of no real pressure constantly might be boring after a while, but for me, it was a balm for my soul.  I have found myself actually dreaming up solutions to problems I face without concentrating on solving them!  How novel!

Our friends on Hilton Head took us to a Jazz Club last night for dinner and a show and I had the best time I have had in years just because I was unburdened by worries.  My spirit was able to soar with the music and I found myself getting lost in the pure joy of the moment.  I need more of this!  During the day, I had tagged along with my friend as he handled some responsibilities and errands, but I had no obligation to do anything but observe and comment while I closed my eyes and let the sun warm my face as we drove around.  He was dealing with real estate problems and other responsibilities and I knew that none of it concerned me.  How liberating!

Now I sit here on Saturday morning, a week later, wondering how the time evaporated so quickly!  When you have no agenda, everything just flows so easily that you lose track of time completely.  Tomorrow we start the long drive home, and while I long for the comfort of my own bed and the balmy breezes of Naples evenings, I also know that I have a long ‘list’ waiting for me when I get there.

So what do I learn from this, and what message of value can I pass along to you?   Take more vacations!!  It is easy to underestimate their value. 

And if you can’t take more vacations, live your life a little easier. Don’t take it all too seriously.   Remember that we are only here for a short while, and if you don’t find the opportunity to observe the beauty of the world and the loving people around you, none of the rest of your life is worth it!  Even short spells of 'no agenda' re-charge you with new energy, and make facing life's daily challenges somehow less daunting.