The G.O. and I came up with a plan to sneak off for a quiet a couple of days away. At least that’s how we thought about it until an inspirational daily quotations message “Going for guilt-free play” popped up in my In-Box.
“There is no pleasure in having nothing to do. The fun is in having lots to do and not doing it.” ~ Mary Little.
That, last weekend, we only drove an hour and half south and were gone just under 48 hours doesn’t reflect how happy we were to have a change of scenery and time together.
We’ve just emerged from the worst part of our year, winter months with few public holidays or 2 day weekends for the G.O. The dry season weather meant production in full swing.
It’s a fine balance to encourage the G.O. to take a Saturday off for no other good reason than to have a break. His work waits for him, often augmented, upon his return and he never departs without exhortations of are you sure you can’t change your plans…
When I utter the words I’m worried about you, they are met with why? A couple of weeks ago having not seen him between daylight and dark 6 days a week I risked expressing my concern. It may be that when I responded to his predictable why? with I need a new hobby to fill my time, the G.O. took the not-so-subtle-hint, and arranged the following Saturday off work. It may also be that his feet are still bloody sore, and he is tired.
Lack of notice and only a single day conceded gave me carte blanche to book somewhere nice. I tossed up mountains vs. beach and luckily came up with beach, given that bushfires began to rage around the Blue Mountains shortly after.
As we still haven’t fulfilled our outstanding visits and spent much time with our nearest and dearest we didn’t broadcast our excursion. It seems along with the wine and sunscreen I packed, some guilt snuck in there too.
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The sister-in-law and I used to take the kids [3] on overnight getaways when our respective husbands couldn’t or wouldn’t leave their work. The kids still talk about those shortie holidays 15 years later! We had a lot of fun and I hope you and the GO had fun too. 🙂
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We had fun but we’re out of practice, we realized. As usual, we have plans to do better, so I need to get to work on my miracle working skills to make it happen 😉
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lol – yes, you have to practice relaxing, it’s an art!
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When we have 3 weeks holidays at Christmas, it takes us about 2 1/2 weeks before we slow down to proper holiday mode 😉
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Even if you go away some place completely different? For me, just being away from home and all the responsibilities home entails makes me more relaxed.
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Oh, going somewhere completley different is worse! I have a travel philosophy “you can sleep when we’re back home” and tend to want to see and do as much as possible regardless of time span available… but I eventually wear out a couple of days before the end, and the G.O. ( a Cancerian) takes ages to acclimatise to new surroundings… aaarggghhhh 😉
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Gah…I believe holidays should be fun but relaxing too! My one big problem about being away from home is the bed. My neck creaks and seizes up far too easily so a strange mattress can make me feel like one of the walking dead for days 😦
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We took our pillows on holiday to Broome, Darwin, Katherine and Kakadu for that same reason, and to Kiama 🙂
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lol – yes! The space they take up in the car is more than offset by not waking up in the morning with a headache!
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On that trip we flew, with 1 item of luggage each, both at 11kgs, including the pillows, but it made a huge difference to our level of sleep comfort 🙂
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lmao – how’d you manage to stuff two pillows in??? I definitely agree they’d be worth it though. 🙂
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I think the answer is neither of us prioritize being sartorially elegant 😉
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Aaaah. Good thinking 🙂
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Glad to hear you got away and that the guilt wasn’t too overwhelming. Even more pleased that you didn’t pick a destination close to the fires! Hopefully the G.O. gets sore feet again and you can have another relaxing getaway sooner rather than later.
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In the past couple of years at this same time, overdoing it has caught up with the G.O. and I’m quick to capitalize on it with a break. I think our summer holidays will be quiet again too, no house projects, just the beach. If only I could get him to take time off as a preventative measure, rather than as treatment, I’d be happier 🙂
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The Man is much the same, he gets some small illness but because he is so run down it gets far worse than it should and completely wipes him out. Hmmm… If only the doc would prescribe a break as a preventative measure!
Summer at the beach, with no demands on either of you, sounds like a great remedy for pretty much anything. 🙂
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The G.O. and I were discussing similar, that we spend a fortune on natural preventative measures and treatments but when it comes to tax time and the Medicare levy (we don’t donate to a health fund being just the 2 of us) the costs don’t count as medical expenses…. grrrr. You only benefit if you get sick. Ditto for sick leave.
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Any guilt you packed was unwarranted.After all, visiting your nearest and dearest may be great but it doesn’t always give you chance to relax and they’d sense something was wrong. You need time to unwind so that when you pay the overdue visits you’re on top form and rested. I’m glad you and the G.O. had such a nice time and should agree to do it at least once a month if you get so little proper time together the rest of the month. Anyway, playing hookey is fun.
xxx Huge Hugs xxx
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Thank you – words of wisdom. We thought of inviting at least some of them but it’s completely the wrong direction, and organizing ourselves at short notice was enough.
You’ve tuned into our conversations it seems. We aim for at least a monthly break but unless there’s a public holiday weekend when we go to our house at TA, we’re generally less than successful.
It was fun, simple, short but enjoyable:)
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There’s no getaway like a sneak getaway 🙂
Well done, you!
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So we found out. There’s merit to an impromptu weekend away. To add to the sneakiness, the G.O. even turned his phone off 😉
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You can’t beat a beach when the batteries need recharging!
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That’s what I thought – sunshine, sand and sea right outside the door. Always a winner 🙂
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You went to Kiama? Oh how I LOVE it there. Not for the shopping, but the ocean is absolutely stunning there – it soothes my soul, even though it’s often so turbulent (the ocean that is, not my soul. Maybe I shouldn’t post comments at 6am. :))
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I’m so glad you clarified the attraction of Kiama wasn’t the shops 😉 although they have the best Vinnies I have ever been in.
It was only our 3rd visit (in 9 years) but we LOVE it too, and each time we do the ‘oh I’d love to live heres’ and check out the real estate windows 🙂
I know what you mean about the ocean there – it’s always doing something, it’s easy to sit and watch or walk, for hours.
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The shops are ok (we actually buy our goat soap from there), but exy and touristy. The cafe on the top of the hill has the most amazing view and half decent fish and chips. Did you stay in one of the cabins there? We’ve never stayed, so I don’t know where decent accommodation is there, but I think it would be a nice getaway.
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The shops are wonderful for a browse – the Mitre 10 has great stuff but even there exxy & touristy.
For a touristy place, we’ve found all of Kiama’s food offerings quite good.
This time we stayed at Easts Beach in a cabin. It was lovely.
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Visiting nearest and dearest doesn’t often give us quality ‘me’ time, so I wouldn’t feel guilty about choosing yourselves over others for once.
Lucky or fate that you chose the coast? I’m sure it was fate, you both deserved a bit of quality time and fate made sure you got it 🙂
It would be the coast every time for me 😉
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I’m foremost a coast person too… that’s why I love reading about your trips. The G.O. has a foot both in the mountains and on the beach. And it was his feet that decided it, I thought walks on the beach might have helped…
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Very tricky to take a break and be able to do it without encroachment or guilt. My husband has managed to go from fully employed to fully occupied, even though retired! We’ve discussed we need to ‘transition’ him but as yet haven’t got a plan. Glad you had a nice break.
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Thank you 🙂
That transition is tricky. My Dad balances part time bus driving with too much time on his hands. I doubt the G.O. and I will fully retire until many years have passed but elective/selective occupation of our time would be nice.
Usually it’s slightly less difficult for us to escape but this year has been particularly demanding of the G.O.’s time.
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I’m glad you both were able to get away, EllaDee, even if only for a day. I think you over-packed, though. After such a demanding year, you both needed time away and alone. There should not have been room in your bags for guilt. I think you should keep going on these little trips until you get the packing right. 🙂
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So true. Practice is what we need… exactly what we said when we got home, we’re just not used to R&R. We have a long weekend at TA in a month, and 3 weeks off at Christmas. We’ll just get the hang of it, and have to come back to work 😉
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I’m glad you and the GO stole some time for your yourselves. The twinge of guilt is what makes it more delicious. It means you did something for yourself and sometimes that’s a necessity.
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That’s it 🙂 When we arrived on the Friday night we were so delighted to have escaped, the G.O. produced his phone and ceremoniously switched it off. Mine is always buried in my handbag, so not an issue, no-one ever expects me to answer it 😉
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It’s so important to take breaks on occasion. Glad you talked him into it.
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We take regular breaks but mostly cover off commitments. This was one of those wonderful rare spontaneous occasions we did something for just us 🙂
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Ella, it is so important to take time out to smell the roses. I am glad you did and enjoyed it.
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We appreciate it when we do, and the South Coast is a real getaway for us, because we so often have to head north.
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