Vacation

Unplug your brain. Don’t get into fights with strangers on the internet, but enjoy your new surroundings. Don’t read the news; please don’t read the news.

The blogging reminder pinged yesterday, and I gamely tried. I got into a fight on Reddit over Iowa’s ban on mask mandates, which means my school district can’t make kids wear masks. Clearly, I’m kind of upset about it, and I was feeling loose and relaxed enough to reply to a “but muh free-dumbs” comment on Reddit. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach when I hit send, which I should have listened to. I did one round of back and forth before I just stopped. I was in the middle of typing my reply when I deleted the draft and closed the app.

I watched the Cubs play yesterday. I haven’t gotten to watch baseball on TV for a long time, and it was very relaxing to be able to curl up in bed with my head propped up by a pillow and watch. The Cubs are very nostalgic for me right now; watching a bunch of up and comers scrabble for runs and hits. I missed the end of the game, but I saw that they made it competitive.

Mostly, I’m just trying to figure out how to relax and have fun. The first night we were here, there was a street festival in front of the hotel, and we went down to check it out, and I was pretty much instantly overwhelmed by the number of people and the noise, trying to keep my kids from walking into strangers, trying to parse what my partner was saying. It happened so fast that it took me a bit to figure out what was going on with me.

But so far, it’s going really well. It’s been a great trip so far. We’re about to start the second leg. Housekeeping just tapped on the door, wondering when we were planning to leave, and I panicked and blurted out an hour. I hope that gives us enough time.