I Found Neverland

It is the third week of a four-week vacation. It is that place that after you have checked off the tourist boxes, slept in several times without an agenda the next day, eaten foods you can’t pronounce, marveled at how others live, seen life through new eyes, and your body has replenished itself at the cellular level. It is when you can no longer clearly remember work items and your mind actually goes blank when trying to conjure up the next task to tackle. There are no home chores to occupy your time because you aren’t there. No phone calls to return. The day unfolds without being planned. The sun rises and sets on shores that aren’t yours. There are no emails so urgent you need to reply to, no daily obligation that you can get to, or worry you need to solve; you left it behind. There is no need to ‘ramp back up’ because you still have plenty of time left to do so.

Neverland is magical because it is hard to find and rarely exists in our culture. Never in my life have I taken more than two consecutive weeks of vacation. I can count the ‘true’ vacations I have taken on one hand and I am nearing 60. I had only dreamt about doing what I just did; taking a month off. Never in a million years did I imagine I would actually do it. I don’t know where I found the courage to give myself this gift, this rare experience, but I am glad I did. It has gently changed me in so many little ways. Through the experiences over the last few weeks, ever so quietly, I became reacquainted with myself. Sometimes I think we lose small pieces of ourselves, or pieces we remember from an earlier time, in the rush of every day life. We have to in order to maintain the pace of our lives or support the people we intertwine with. It was simply so very nice to meet myself again, and who I am now.

The third week is Neverland because there is still one week to go and now I must begin to shift gears and get ready to return. I couldn’t go on forever like this, but I will accept every moment at hand and I am grateful for every single one of them.