Vacations are like being a dog without a leash. You’re finally able to run free and roll around in the grass. You can sniff as many dog butts as you want. Then your owner puts the leash back on and you’re at his mercy again. When he walks, you walk. When he says sit, you sit. And when you’re with your dog friends and they ask, “How are you?” you reply, “Hey, I can’t complain.”

They’re like if you get the first four numbers on a lottery ticket. You think Wow! I’ll get the house I’ve always wanted; a nice, but modest contemporary home out in nature. Something Frank Lloyd Wright would make. Yea! It’ll have a meditation room on the corner, with glass walls that have trees right up against the glass. When I’m in there it’ll feel like I’m floating in the forest. The non-glass walls will be made of wood and they’ll have inset areas that are for shelves. The shelves will have books with things like self affirmations and stoic type sayings, not that superficial shit like Tony Robbins. I’ll hit the bowl thing that makes that ringing sound that goes on forever and sit on a pillow in the middle of the room. Then I’ll meditate to make me feel happier because enough is never enough. Then I’ll go to the kitchen where my nutritionist slash chef slash personal trainer slash bodyguard slash therapist will have a healthy breakfast ready; probably something with kale in it. I’ll make a dirty chai tea latte with 2 shots of espresso and I’ll sip it while I go out on the deck to read and write. It’ll be a bit chilly, so I’ll turn on the gas powered fire pit and feel warm and toasty. It feels amazing to be in the cool air with the warm fire. I’ll read for a while before looking up at the blue sky to contemplate what I’ve just read while listening to the nearby stream and enjoying the wind blowing through my hair. The book will be so good I won’t be able to put it down. I’ll lean back and think This is the life! And then you didn’t get the fifth number. And that fifth number is the one you usually pick, but this time you felt like trying something different. ✍️