Today I'm going on vacation to Maine to visit my brother-in-law and his family. I haven't been to Maine since '01, so I'm looking forward to it. This will also be the first family vacation we've had in a long time, so it will be nice to get away from everything. But would you believe I'm thinking about taking my laptop so I can WORK? On VACATION? I keep thinking about all the downtime in the car, time I can use to do research, plot, write, take care of email, etc.

But I'm not going to do it. I'm leaving the laptop and my work behind.

Monday I went to Middlefield, and as usual, when I left the city limits of Geneva (which is a very small, rural city) I felt like I could breathe. There's something about Amish country that is so peaceful, so cathartic. I went to visit my Amish friend, and we sat on the porch with a few of her children and my two daughters and talked. It was so relaxing just to get away from everything, to live in that moment and enjoy an hour or two with a friend. I think we all need that from time to time, probably more than we realize.

So I'm going to do something wild and crazy on vacation: I'm going to live in the moment and enjoy it. I'm not going to try to cram in work, or think about my mile long to-do list. I'm going to have fun with my family, take in the beauty of Maine, and relax. What a novel idea!

What do you do to get away from it all? How do you live in the moment?

'Til next time,
Kathleen