Now that I finally have my own spacious and private office, complete with a door that locks, it probably seems strange that I’m planning a mini-getaway starting tomorrow. Truth is, between my mother’s cancer problems earlier this year and now my father-in-law’s passing, I’ve felt increasingly drained.

Before The Big-Eyed Boy enrolled in public school, VH1 and I had considered taking him on one of those tours to China. An exotic family getaway, indeed, and one which would let us combine not only educational opportunities but also, with luck, a chance to meet GZ Expat and GZ Tai-Tai. Then the economy tanked and overnight we lost most of the equity in our house from which we’d hoped to draw the funds for such a lavish trip.

It’s been years since we’ve taken any kind of a meaningful vacation together — as in, the last official one was our honeymoon — so I wasn’t quite ready to give up the thought of foreign travel just yet. I started gathering information on Italy tours with idea that we’d spend the holiday season in Europe, thus short-circuiting the annual argument over whose side of the family will visit when during the Christmas season. But meanwhile the need to get away has continued to grow, and each passing day just seems to make matters worse.

When my mom called earlier this month to ask me to fly down next week and care for her following a hernia operation, I realized I’d better do something to recharge my mental and emotional resources before I go nuts. Seriously, I’m thisclose to being the subject of a news story that ends with “…police found her sitting at her computer, the dead bodies arranged neatly nearby.”

The other night, VH1 and I sadly acknowledged that we really don’t have time this year to consider tours to Italy, not to mention that they are well outside our budget. (Then again, what isn’t?) We also realized that my mother’s health problems are most likely going to continue, and that since this will be the first Christmas his mother will be without a spouse, traveling might not be such a good idea. But I still need a few days away, we decided.

It’s not that I want to do anything exciting. In fact, I pretty much just want to watch some chick flicks in a quiet room and get both some reading and writing done. (Yes, I’m still working on getting those three chapters and the novel outline ready to send to the publisher.) Most of all, I need a couple of days where I’m my sole priority.

Hence, I’m taking a mini-vacation just as I did last year when VH1 had been gone for a month, that time on business. It worked wonders for my mental outlook last year (although the hangover nearly killed me).

I’ve got the hotel room booked. I check in tomorrow afternoon and return home sometime on Thursday. My favorite wine will be waiting, and this time I’ve got a nice thick copy of Oscar Wilde’s collected works I’ll be bringing along. Oh, and I’ll have my laptop with me, of course. Just because I need to get away from the house doesn’t mean I need to get away from you.

Monday, October 13th, 2008, 9:25 am   |   Blog bites  |  RSS feed Comments and pings are currently closed.