Gorgeous night time views.
I believe, for the first time ever, I'm returning from a vacation well rested and relaxed. I have energy to do things and face a busy long weekend. Typically, upon our vacation returns, I'm wiped out. I want a few days to do nothing. It's difficult to face any obligations and I'm always dying to sleep in my own bed.
While we returned excited to sleep in our own cozy beds, one thing was different. The amount of energy I had. I was, the first time in a long time, well rested. It wasn't simply the fact that I napped every day we were in a houseboat, on a lake, in a cove that we had all to ourselves. A lot has to do with the fact that we were unplugged. We have very little, if any at time, cell reception and definitely no WiFi. Electronics were left at home, cell phones put on emergency calls only. We checked our phones once per day to see if there were any texts we absolutely needed to answer.
We've been on plenty of vacations where WiFi was nonexsistent and cell service was iffy, but this was different. We had no choice but to sit, enjoy our days, pass the time, and rest. Life was slow. When the sun would begin to set, we'd wait for the stars to come out by talking and telling stories. We sat up on our top deck and watched each star appear in the sky. We'd spend a couple of hours each night identifying the stars and constellations. We spoke of light pollution and how amazing the night sky was on a dark lake. Then, we'd climb into our beds in our small houseboat cabin and sleep until the sun rose.
Our family spends a lot of time together. We've rarely been away from each other for the past 18+ months. Yet this was a whole new level of reconnecting. As I sit here planning out our weekend ahead, I'm undaunted by how busy it seems. I'm ready because I've had time to recharge. I have no idea when our next vacation will make us completely unplug and reconnect with life down to the basics, but I won't shy away from the opportunity.