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Just Get Me to Friday…
I recently enjoyed a break from my job. Not a
family vacation, this was a vacation when my job
did not come along. They stayed with their
grandparents. However, the week before we dropped
them off and headed south, my four children found
every button in my psyche and pushed
them—repeatedly. The twins found every
conceivably illogical reason to throw tantrums; my
son found new and creative ways to make all of his
sisters cry; and my oldest daughter found clever
ways to ignore me. When the week ended, I
desperately needed a vacation, an asylum, or an
orphanage.
Why is it that the week just before a vacation
is due to begin is usually the worst week of the
year? There is obviously the heightened
anticipation of a break that makes the week seem
interminable, but what is the mechanism that turns
everything else against you? I remember this from
when I had a daytime-only job, too. This is not
something only Stay-At-Homes face.
I have developed three theories. The first
involves the mysterious Eastern philosophy of yin
and yang. That’s the cool swirly black and
white circle that looks like mating fish. To
oversimplify, this belief says that in order for
balance to exist in the universe, there must be an
equal amount of good and bad. It stands to reason
then that this balance can extend to stress levels.
In order for our lives to be balanced, our calm,
relaxed moments (i.e. vacation) must be countered
with times of extreme chaos (the week before
vacation). Being a phenomenon outside our
understanding and linear timeline, the balancing
stress can come before the moments of blissful
rest. The rest of our year we are pretty much
somewhere in the middle.
The theory I put my faith in also involves a
power beyond our grasp: a benevolent and omniscient
God. Being benevolent, God really wants us to enjoy
our vacations. Being able to look down on our lives
from above, God can see next week as easily as
today. Because He knows everything, He can tell how
much we will appreciate our break.
He might hear us say something like, “Boy,
this is a nice vacation, but really, was work all
that bad? I kind of miss it.”
To help us avoid such an outrageous sentiment,
the Almighty helpfully sends some crap into our
normal day. This ensures we will fully grasp the
necessity of taking the vacation in the first
place.
“Why are you banging your head against that
tree?”
“Because it feels so good when I
stop!”
The last theory is just this: our lives are
chaotic all the time. Only when we have a light
from the end of the tunnel can we see just how
crazy it is.
No matter why that working week is especially
insane, thank God for vacations!
©2008, Mark
Phillips
* * *
Women, it's true, make human beings, but
only men can make men. - Margaret Mead
Mark
Phillips is a Stay-At-Home-Dad and freelance
writer. Along with raising his four children, he is
developing a franchise called “The Vacuum IS a
Power Tool.” It is designed to help SAHDs
maintain that which makes us men, instead of hairy
Mom-substitutes. He earned a B.S. in
Communication/Theatre Arts and teaching
certificates in English, public speaking, and
psychology from Eastern Michigan University. After
six years as a high school English teacher and
Director of Dramatic Arts at Powers Catholic High
School in Flint, Michigan, he changed careers and
became a Stay-At-Home-Dad. www.TheVacuumIsAPowerTool.com
or E-Mail
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