The first couple of days in Ontario I had to try to keep work out of my thoughts. I considered signing into my e-mail every fifteen minutes... Thoughts like "maybe I should call work" crossed my mind. I sat on the plane on the way to my destination, and thought "I might just see if I can come home a few days early", because I'm a crazy person. Then, I hit the beach and forgot all about the fact that I even had a home in Calgary, let alone a job. I was "Beach Sarah". I was tanned and sleepy from the sun. My hair had bleached out, and I hadn't even put on even a hint of mascara. I hadn't brushed my hair in two days. I'd had a few Caesars with dinner, of which was plentiful and fattening. I couldn't use my brain if I tried.
From then on, it was easy to relax. I drank a million beers on the beach, and laid in the sand every day, and stayed with my dad in his tiny place near Lake Huron. After I left him, I went to Toronto and went on long walking adventures when got horribly lost getting to (1) the museum, and (2) the market. I went to two movies (A Tribe Called Quest: Beats, Rhymes, and Life, and Terri), and ordered room service every night in my 18th floor suite (4 1/2 star for $124 a night- Hotwire, baby). One night I just had a bottle of wine for dinner. I bought tiny little (Sarah-sized) dresses in Chinatown. I took the longest baths in the jetted tub, and read two books and every current issue of every magazine in rotation. Sounds nice, right?
Not to say that the past week did not have it's downfalls; I tore up every layer of the skin on my feet wearing cutesy sandals on a 6-hour walk in 32C weather. I re-sprained my ankle. I probably gained 5 pounds. The really bronzy parts of my tan started to peel. I got eaten alive by bugs at the lake, so badly that I had to wear pants for the rest of the trip. A 7-foot tall Nigerian wearing braces tried kicking game on me in a Sears. The Toronto Streets have turned my white canvas sneakers to a greige tone that will not fade, no matter how much bleach I use.
However, it's easy to overlook those things now that my shoulders have resided to their normal position (under my ears, not beside), my heart rate is back to normal, and nobody has given me a "you need to manage your stress and take care of yourself" talk in over a week! Success!
Holiday. Celebrate. Probably won't do it again for a very long time.
xoxo
~sarah p.
