Last week I got out of the city for 3 days and 3 nights and stayed at a dear friend’s home near the Swedish village of Solvang.
It felt good. I guess I needed that. It took me a full day to decompress. I don’t think the majority of us realize just how acclimated we are to the rhythms of city life. The freeways. The traffic. Coffee to kick-start our mornings. The ways in which we push ourselves.
Solvang is a quaint little village with pretty shops and neat little places to eat. However, I stayed in a still more remote town about 15 minutes away. It reminded me a lot of the small rural towns in Illinois where I grew up. We picked up some fresh baskets of strawberries from a farmer/vendor and they work it on the honor system: pick up the fruit and leave the money in a wooden box.
Then something strange happened. It’s as if someone was trying to tell me something. I couldn’t get in my phone or retrieve any of my contacts, texts, photos, or phone messages! I panicked and called my carrier who told me they could get me back up and running, but I would lose everything that was not backed up. They repeatedly told me nothing was backed up. Not good. I called Apple and spoke to a young woman who was so accommodating and she fixed everything. Later, I would write a nice letter of commendation to her superiors.
It dawned on me that I was still on City mode. We are so attached and dependent on our electronic devices that without them we start to freak out. But it was a good exercise in perspective and I stayed off the phone for the most part during my trip.
I was now on full-on vacation mode. We watched an old movie together, went to the Hearst Castle, enjoyed a walk on the beach to find moon stones, shared a hamburger and ate chocolate fudge that another dear friend brought from L.A. The 3 of us had dinner together and all this without a care in the world. We shared a discussion on faith, and belief and understanding and that was energizing.
My friend has a good sense of humor and she too had to decompress from her work. She was laughing at herself and the fact that she was wearing her ‘stretchy pants’ and though she normally watches her figure, she could have given a rat’s ass the time I was there. It made me feel that I was not different or the only one that goes up and down on the scale fluctuating like crazy and we may all have a muffin top but no matter what, she accepts me no matter my size, look, faith, finances, or imperfections. That’s a good friend.
It was a nice little get-away. Away from the hustle and bustle of the city; a way to reconnect with a simpler way of life. Quieter. A chance for meaningful conversation with a treasured friend. A chance to re-charge our sometimes over-loaded and over-amped batteries.
On the train ride home I was overwhelmed with the thought of what I needed to catch up on and trying to not feel so guilty for going.
Back home, I noticed 542 e-mails and several dozen V/M messages and texts that were deleted when my phone was restored and still cannot respond to them. That’s ok. I got to everyone I could even though I did break my 24 hour response rule. I still got back to everyone within a reasonable time.
I want to thank my friend for being an amazing host, honest, respectful, and humorous and for taking the time to accommodate and treat me to three days of fun and reality; all the while bringing me back to the basics of my past, life, living, faith and our friendship.
Baby Steps….
I’m so very blessed,,, May your God be with you!
P.W.
Patricia Wenskunas
