HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1986-07-16, Page 13.1.
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aamsaammara
y Susan Hurkiertmark
Talk to me
later; I'm
•on holidays
It's that time of year again. I know
because I'm suffering from the tell-tale
signs...duffle bags under the eyes, a va-
cant, zombie -like expression, a normally
fertile mind that's turned into an arid
wasteland (you can almost see the sand
trickling out of my ears) and a recurring
desire to stare longingly out the window
and daydream. .
Yup, it's definitely time for a holiday,
the two weeks of the year that take
forever to come and are gone before you
know it. When you read this column, the
countdown will be three days until
freedom...no more interviews, no more
books, no more editor's dirty looks. (The
heady promise of impending holidays
sometimes makes me quite juvenile! )
I've known I've been in need of
holidays for some time now. I can always
Itell they're due when. I start to lose my
spark, my sense of outrage and my com-
pulsion to give my point of vii about an
issue.
When I'm refreshed, paging through a
newspaper or watching the news on TV is
a participatory exercise; each story
' evokes a comment, an opinion or a curse
1 from me.
I But, while I'm longing for my holidays,
- I develop a deadening sense of apathy.
U.S. President Ronald Reagan's face can
appear on my TV screen five tirneein a
row without my leaping to my feet in
rage and hurling insults at him.
Just before I go on holidays, my
favorite issues fail to move me. Parlia-
ment can pass legislation revoking
• women's right to vote and I'm only mild-
ly interested. The Ku Klux Klan can set
• up shop next door to my house and start
burning crosses on front yards
throughout the neighborhood and I'm on-
ly slightl, alarmed. And, the United
States, and, Russia can simultaneously
launch nuclear weapons at each other
and I only shrug my shoulders.
Sorry guys, I'm -going on holidays. In
two weeks, I'll be ready to tackle the
ViCifkiAlt, Mt .niif: Talki,o me about it
Wheii rgethack,
When I'm pining for my holidays; my
fingers no longer dance over the keys of
my computer as Itompose a story or col-
umn. Slow motion sets into the
screenplay of my life and the workings of
my mind reduce speed until I'm staring
lifelessly into my computerscreen, a dull
cataract glaze forrning over my pupils.
My mind drifts away and I fabtasize
about being anywhere right now but in
front of this blasted, demanding screen. -
My fantasy life takes me to all sorts of
places. It lets me run away from home
with all my worldlygoods_slung over my
shoulder on a knapsack. It has me joining
the circus, stowing away m a sailboat,
hopping aboard a spaceship, joining
Robinson Crusoe on a tropical island or
participating in any number of
adventures.
One of my most restful fantasies is
jumping into a time machine and return-
ing for a while to the carefree summers
of my childhood when I had ample time
to lie on my back in the grass and stare
up into the clouds or stars, depending on
the time of day, and leisurely wonder
about everything in the universe without
feeling the pressure to come up with any
answers.
Of course, childhood summers were so
carefree that I had lots of time to com-
plain about being bored to the point that I
even looked forward to the coming school
year. My measly two week holiday really
makes ,me appreciate , (of course, too
late) those summers.
Dreaming about holidays sometimes
make' S me think irrational thoughts. I
even go - as far as wondering what it
would be like to trade places with the
people I know who've chosen to be stay-
at-home spouses.
The stereotypical activities of wat-
ching soap operas, reading endlessly and
sitting in the sun are of course appealing
but, F realize they're not a reflection of
reality. Work at home can have all the
demands and pitfalls of paid employ-
ment and stay-at-home workers are just
as needful of a vacation as I am. During
the Week . before holidays, though, the
•.grass :airways looks greener somewhere
Vie. . • , .
With the promise of holidays creeping
towards me, I begin to imagine myself as
one o e moronkr-dharacters-in-stunme---
vacation movies..Youknow the type...the
bile with the nerves frayed from a caf- '
feine • overdose with the fingernails
,pheWed to the iFitrists 'and with the hair
•tinting grey and failing out in clumps. Of
dour*, a transfOrmationoccurs.whshene
thw, character goes on holidays
regllins her youth; her beauty, her health
and her energy. (I can't wait')
ithWthete is a shadow over ,the pro -
Mist OthOlidays. Unlike employees of the
llytetitspapers', small town columnists
cannot , afford the luxury of a tiny box
stating "Susan Iluritlertrnia* is on
lkilhlaye where their column usually
itO eats: , • ' ' ' ,
ov even though I'll be gone for two
:Weeksall Still be hOe. on this page to
itcep yisu 'company. And during the next
thtee dayS, ill be worIthig my butt off so
00,60 notlee my absence, . .
Iliit"elitrit effort is worth it.
gte,W,..„..s.'4.-.; • •
The 72 foot square rigged Playfair
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Getting ready to sail the Great Lakes (photos by Susan Hundertmark).
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