Mini-vacations

Topics discussed during lunch conversations at work rarely stray away from the mundane work-related issues (mostly frustration over politics or petty rat race woes), and I relish those uncommon occasions that open doors in my imagination that takes me far away from the office. (The obvious interpretation of this, of course, is that I need to find a new job!)

Over lunch today, my buddy was sharing some of his plans for a business trip to Prague and Amsterdam in a couple of weeks, and mere mention of “Amsterdam” brought an immediate smile to my lips – I was already shedding my office garbs and found myself in the line of bicyclists riding along the canals, the locals scurrying along on their daily chores, and me, just carefree, aimless, and thoroughly feeling a sense of being in a strange city. Ahhhhhhh……………

As the Mastercard advertisement goes, certain things in life are priceless. Being able to take these “mini-vacations,” even if they are like fleeting scent in the breeze that stirs up a sudden rush of nostalgia, then dissipate as abruptly as it came, is a priceless delight gained from the eight weeks I spent backpacking in Western Europe last summer. I dare not go beyond this, because I’ll be up all night rummaging through the treasure chest brimming with dazzling memories, lost in la-la land. You see, when I returned from the eight weeks, I’ve put most of the souvenirs from the trip – random tourist maps of exotic cities, ticket stubs, random keepsakes and even my journal – into a box that I haven’t opened since. Every time I feel that I should go through and organize these mementos, I cannot bring myself to do it – somehow, how these remain as tokens in my memories is far richer and colorful than the actual souvenirs themselves -- and what’s in the box are like foils that will turn these mementos and make them fade away to grey.

Secret to most of these little nuggets of happiness in my life seem not to have come to my possession through haggling prices and getting the best deal; I seemed to happen upon them, sorry to say, mostly by (just luckily) stumbling upon them – unplanned discoveries. In that respect, I’ve been blessed that such things in my life that turned out to be priceless have been gained “for free.” It’s ironic to realize that these, out of all things that I thrash and wiggle to hoard, are what I’m willing to pay any price to keep.