Two Week Paid Vacation by Joyce Schafer

I confess. I am a recovering workaholic. After going years without a paid vacation it was hard to get used to the idea of getting paid to do nothing.

In the past years I had spent the majority of my vacation catching up on those jobs that never get done the rest of the year. This year was different. I decided to do what I wanted to do and not what I needed to do.

I did not get off to a great start. The first day I had doctor and dentist appointments. Not exactly something I wanted to do but I did get a clean bill of health clearing the way to go forward with the fun stuff.

Tuesday I took my grandson, Riley, to Walmart. To a five year old Walmart is a wonderland. Then we got cheese pizza (his choice) and went to the park to eat and play.

Wednesday I took a "Me Day". I did some writing and went to the library and got some books. The afternoon I spent reading. Every time I started to feel guilty and jump up to work. I reminded myself "Hey, you are getting paid to do this."

The next day was A.J. and grandma day. He wanted to "do lunch" at Solid Grounds and play miniature golf.

I love doing one-on-one time with the grandkids but with twelve of them it gets harder and harder.

I did some backsliding on Friday and did some housecleaning and laundry. This was necessary so we could take off a few days and visit my brother in northern Wisconsin. The highlight of the trip for me was seeing the eagles fly over the lake. What a beautiful sight.


I love baking so I spent a day making cookies, muffins and cinnamon rolls. I spent the next day watching the grandkids eat them. Just in case any of their parents are reading this they also ate grapes, cantaloupe, watermelon, peaches and lots of other healthy stuff.

Spending time with all of my grandkids was the perfect way to end my vacation.

Psalms 23:1-3 The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me besides quiet waters, he restores my soul.

My soul has been restored and I am ready to go back to work refreshed and energized. I am also looking forward to Labor day, Columbus Day, Veteran's Day and all those other holidays I get paid for doing nothing. I think I am finally getting the hang of this.