Just returned from 3 weeks away, from home in the Blue Ridge Appalachians several thousand miles north west to western Washington. Our family of four crashed with close (and very kind & accommodating) friends in Bellingham. We did tons of cool stuff (photos on FB): watched 3 pods of frolicking Orcas, kayaked past bald eagles and their nests, skylight train to Vancouver, very fast dips in glacial water ... wild flowers, volcanoes, big ol' juicy oysters, nightly Mallards ice cream (Maddy always got basil), and camping camping & more camping. (Okay, a little too much camping for the rest of my family ...)
Three weeks is a great amount of time to be away. Cleared my head, my perspectives, my priorities, my schedule, my stress. For three weeks I did as I pleased.
Interestingly, I worked a lot. And loved every minute of it. This trip, more than any other, allowed me to enjoy my professional life seamlessly. I worked whenever & wherever I dang well felt like it, played just the same. Completely unencumbered by physical location - just my laptop, wireless, blackberry and iPod (free Kindle app, favorite reading tucked into my pocket). Calls got made, work got submitted, bills got paid, I yakked with friends, I kept up with our dog-sitter ... all while walking new streets enough that they grew familiar.
I suspect I sound delusional. That vacations are supposed to Unplug, not ramp up the Plugging. But I felt exhilarating freedom, permanently released from an office, a house, four walls and a land line. Untethered from a permanent address that defines where I technically belong. From the static practice that I am a local Here and an interloper There. That one place is home and all others are not.
To be sure, I am delighted to be back in my own bed, watching the summer rain dance on the poplars by my windows. But it's also nice to know that in only a few weeks the arid western vistas grew just as sweet. Imagine how different the world would be if everyone felt Home no matter where we were?