Not sure when I first had this idea…but it was at least a couple of decades ago and as the years have passed it has cultured like a pearl and become rather priceless. The idea was simple, “Never go on vacation to rest…start a vacation already rested…then enjoy it to the fullest!” I followed that “rule of thumb” for some time. Then it drifted away…and I am unsure how or when or where. Too bad. It was a good idea back then. It may even be better now.
Not sure how I found this old idea again…maybe it was hidden deep in my weariness. But I stumbled on it in the Dominican Republic. I had just completed facilitating a global conference on peace and advocacy. Thirty-nine days of travel away from home in ten weeks had depleted my strength. There I sat on the beach with a gentle Caribbean breeze blowing in the night air and the moonlight adequate for seeing inside of me. A friend from Beirut sat beside me and handed me a ten-dollar Cuban cigar. It would be illegal to import to America, but that was no problem since the night was early and it was ready to smoke in Boca Chica Bay. A watered down Margarita and a smooth Cuban was a rare moment for me. When I was in seminary in Jackson, Mississippi, back in the seventies, I would smoke a Garcia Vega at the end of each quarter. Linda made me smoke it outside. I didn’t mind. I loved to sit in my swing under the grape arbor I had built, drink a tall glass of ice tea with a shot of lemon and a sprig of mint, and smoke that one cigar. My body and mind would unwind in the lilting moments of solitude. Occasionally, I would think of my theology professor, far too conservative for me, a little to the right of Attila the Hun. But he surprised me with his view of Christian liberty. I remember he said he could smoke a cigar to the glory of God. Strange juxtaposition of concepts, but such combinations of ideas are rich stimulations of thought.
So, I have wandered away again, into my meandering thoughts. But that seems to happen with a cigar. I had never smoked a Cuban cigar until June 2005. I was in El Salvador then and shared an evening with friends as we waited for a hurricane that was barreling down directly on us. Then later that same month, this friend from Beirut was with me in Croatia. He brought me a Cuban cigar from the Duty Free Shop in Beirut. We smoked it on a floating restaurant on the river that runs through Osijek. Now, here I am again, less than a year since my last Cuban, and with the same friend. Strange crossing of paths take place when one follows after peace.
Somewhere near the lapping waters of the Caribbean on the shores of Boca Chica Bay, my old pearl of an idea worked its way to the surface of my subconscious. I was struggling to regain some balance. My wife’s Alzheimer’s had been on a rapid downhill run of late. I had lost my equilibrium. And then the season of travel had hit me hard and that had not only worn me down, it had also further destabilized her. An adult companion daycare worker I had hired to help had only lasted three weeks. The stress was too great for her. So I knew the month of April could be a tough one trying to put all the pieces together again.
Back in September 2005, my brother and I had decided to take a respite trip to Ireland…just the two of us. It was a way to get away. A place he loved and I did not know. An opportunity to deepen two brothers’ relationships and hopefully to send us back home better prepared for life and with new energy for me to continue the caregiver role. But then Katrina hit Mississippi and knocked our plans into another year. So now that time has come…the year is new and in May, he and I hope to be in Shannon for a week. But here I am near exhaustion! It looks like Ireland will be the place of exhausted sleep and recovery. But there on the beach of Caribbean waters a message came to me saying I should not treat the Atlantic beach so disdainfully. How dare I consider offending a neighborly shore by spending a visit in a fit of exhaustion? Wake up, man! Get some rest! And then go on that vacation trip!
Ah, the pearl is alive. The wisdom of old has returned. The simple plan is back in play.
So now I have intervened in my own life and schedule. For the next five weeks, I will take all but one weekend as three or four day weekends. I will string a few days off linked with weekend days. And I will rest up! I will walk often, and I will work “normal” days rather than the crazy hours I seem to accept as standard. And when it comes time to go to Ireland, by God’s grace, I will go! Rested! Energetic! Ready to embrace the beauty, the solitude, the sea, the pubs, the B&Bs, and my brother. Now that is a vision of peace…within and around.
Thank God for a single Cuban on the Caribbean, a friend from far away, a weary body, and a pearl of wisdom that surfaced in the light of the moon.
No comments:
Post a Comment