Countdown to Oblivion

In exactly two weeks from today, I will be on my way to my first vacation in 10 years.

I've taken long weekends here and there, but this is the first "real" vacation - a full ten days, complete with a nice cruise - since 1996.

I do hope this one goes more smoothly.

Not that the last one wasn't fun. And whatever snafus there were, that's not the reason I haven't vacated in so long.

What concerns me is, do I even know how to do this?

I need to relax. I really do. I used to be the most laid back, easy going person you could want to meet. Nothing bothered me. Now I find myself stressed out and depressed by turns.

How do you shut your mind down? How do you let go?

If I'd had kids, I think I would have been one of those moms that hauls the kids to some place new every summer, dragging them to some cultural tour or educational site instead of just letting them chill. I'm the type that needs to plan vacations. I need to study the destination, plan where to go, what to see and even where to eat. I try to make sure that everyone else has a great time, while I stress out over the whole thing. My mother raised a worrier. And she was always terrific at anything she did.

There are two really good things about this vacation. 1) It's a cruise. There's really not that much planning you can do once you've booked your cabin. We'll take one shore excursion, but other than making sure we get back on the boat, I don't really have to worry that much about the daily agenda. 2) The SO will be recuperating from surgery. Now, to the uninitiated, this would not seem to be a good thing. Except that it means that he'll *have* to take things easy. Not too much walking around, nothing strenuous. So the usual vacation March of Death from one Attraction to the next is decidedly O-U-T. I can't really plan anything, because we won't know until we get there just how much he'll be able to manage. So we'll just have to wing it and take things as they come.

I'm taking the laptop. And a book on Oracle PL/SQL. That should be relaxing...