"Vacation and Life"

As I was sitting by the pool, relaxing in the 85 degree warmth of a vacation in Montego Bay, for some reason I was swept up into to contemplating the brevity of life. The Bible tells us that “at BEST “ (my emphasis), "each of us is just a breath” (Psalm 39.5). It says later on (as if to provide some sort of merciful extension to life) that “our life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then” BAM! “it’s gone” (James 4.14). I’d take the “morning fog” situation over just “a breath” but the reality is the same: Life moves mighty doggone fast. I wrestled with this idea of life and time and brevity a little here and there throughout vacation. And as the final day of our mid-winter respite approached, I began to see that vacation, quite clearly, is a lot like life.



One "day one" we arrived into a brand new world: resort life Jamaica! YaY! After trading the amniotic fluid of winter clothing for bathing suits and tank tops, we set out like newborns to discover our new world. Our sensitive bodies were caressed lovingly by the heat of a sun we hadn’t enjoyed fully in months. Our young eyes strained to drink in fresh sights with the same purposefulness that we would later consume food and alcohol. Our fertile minds, stimulated with wonder and fueled by hope, sought to learn our new home with the same gluttonous intensity with which we would later engage in soul quenching sex. On “day one”, we were newborns.



But time flies - and flies fast. Our bright-eyed bushy-tailed curiosity waned with the passage of time and experience. We learned the best buffets at lunch and the finest dishes at the specialty restaurants. We learned what hour the gym opened and where all the washrooms were. We were able to impart knowledge to the new “newborns” (of whom we were envious) by pointing them to ATMs inside and shopping malls outside. We were able to bid fitting farewells to the “aged” (in spite of their jealousy) whose “demise”, if not exaggerated, was greatly lamented. We had “grown up” just “thatfast”. We were “adults” now. Our innocence, if not our exuberance, “vanished like vapor”. Vacation, quite clearly, is a lot like life.



Near the end of vacation we mellowed. And that, quite clearly, is a lot like life. We’d done all that we could but not everything that we desired to. We rode horses. We shopped. We ate. We drank. We looked for real estate. We participated in the kooky poolside entertainment games. And we daringly made love on the balcony beneath a black cushion pierced with a thousand white-headed pins and sliced with a sliver of moon.



On the last day, I just wanted to sit. Time flies fast. Sit and rest – and ponder the monumental moments (two of which will I share in successive posts). And that, quite clearly, is a lot like life. We settled on a spot by the pool – close to the bar. We were the “aged” and jealous ones now: Jealous of the newborn couple walking by, as I watched him give her a gentle spank on the bottom with his flip-flop. Jealous of the lady with the scarlet “sit spot”, deemed, by us, to be much too dark for sunburn. We couldn’t help but wonder if these were the signs of spankos in our midst.

SugarAnne stood. As she walked toward the pool she reached back subconsciously to give the right side of her bottom a scrunchy-faced soothing caress. I figured that THAT must be the universal sign of the spanko. Ah! We had indeed lived a full life.

Vacation was just “a breath”. And yes, we fought the idea of going home. But we also looked forward to it too. Because we knew that our new life awaited us when we fly home.
 
And that, quite frankly, is a lot like life.