A Big Break

So I have mostly been off line since the end of July. I stayed in one house which had no wifi and iffy cell phone service at best. Then I went on vacation with my husband and stayed in more hotels with iffy wifi and sometimes cell service. You know the two-three bar places where if the wind is blowing in the right direction you can actually connect. The most important thing I used my phone for was for directions and as a back up we had a paper map.

This meant I was really behind on emails by the time I got home. I also hadn't been on facebook or here on my blog. And I didn't get a lot of phone calls or messages. Best of all I could pretend I was a healthy person and I DIDN'T HAVE A SINGLE DOCTOR APPOINTMENT. It was awesome.

I recommend it for everyone. I couldn't remember what day of the week it was, never mind the date. I went into a store last week. I looked at the hours on the door and it said 'open 9-1' and it was 2:30. But then some people walked out of the store so I figured the sign was wrong. When I went in, I asked the woman if she was still open despite the sign on the door. Her response was 'its Friday, not Saturday'. That was great.

I need more of that in my life. I didn't have to run from the gym to a doctor appointment to anything else. I didn't have to worry about anything. The two of us had a blast - except for the day it was clear we had spent too much time in the car together so that there was a very quiet period for the better part of the day.

My non-doctor prescription is that everyone take a disconnected vacation.

Less Technology

We are away on vacation (note to burglars: we have a house sitter and two anti-burglar cats) and I have less access to technology:

• My phone is dead. I mean the battery is dead. I brought the wrong charger so it won't charge. As a backup we have my husband's phone but its not mine so I won't be using it much.
• There is one TV in the house we rented. It is downstairs and there are 7 of us now and will be 11 of us later so that means not a lot of tube time.
• All the plugs in this house (built in the early 1800s) are two prong. All the computer chargers are three prong. Dead batteries will probably occur.

And I don't really care. I can live without technology (as the withdrawal begins). We are at the beach. I have a pile of library books. It will do me good to unplug. We will have to do things like talk to each other.

I do want to take pictures so without my phone I might just not. That's okay. We are with family so other people can take pictures too. 

It also means I can't obsess over any new ailment because I can't just google it. (This is a very good thing.) I'll just pretend I'm healthy and any new ailment will magically go away like for normal people.

I think we spend too much time online, looking at screens and we don't look at the world around us. (Think of the people who have walked or driven into things or off things because they are looking at a screen. Or the groups of teens who sit together but look at screens at text each other instead of talking.)

I am happy to be unplugged. I will blog but I will also go to the beach. The beach just might be more important (and is a five minute walk).