Wekeela 2021: They Did It Again

 

E has been home from sleepaway camp for about ten days now. It's been a whirlwind of chaos, Axe-bombing and laundry. I would've written sooner, but if you've read my previous blogs about the return home from camp, it's sort of like having a newborn and going from zero to one again. The first year his bags consisted of twigs, dirt, rocks, a ton of crap that wasn't his and much of his stuff gone missing. Last year was somewhat better after I looked like that Taylor Armstrong meme with the cat the first time. This time was leaps and bounds above the past two times but still involved wet towels and foul smells. 

Enough about me and how I'm affected by his return. I'm focused on the negative aspect of his return because there's so much positive about what goes on there are camp for him. People who don't get camp always ask if I'm ready for him to come home. If I miss him. If I'm excited for him to come home. I don't really know how to answer truthfully without them thinking I'm a sociopath. I know they don't get it but the real answer is a big fat no. Why? For WHAT? What is he coming back to? 

Should he come back to roam around downtown, going to CVS to buy candy to shove in his face? Can't do that at Wekeela. They don't allow packages and don't allow parents to send candy. Even though parents decided to just do their own thing this year, trying to hide candy contraband in tampon boxes and pillows. Too bad they got caught, candy confiscated, life threatening allergies of other campers they weren't thinking about, avoided. I'm happy to have a camp that doesn't allow packages. One less thing to think about and less garbage for him to put into his body. He does that enough for the ten months he's here.

Should he have come back to endless news of the Delta variant of Covid raging, things shutting down again, and people getting sick, when they had a lovely little bubble of wellness, not even having to think about Covid? I loved not having to think about where he was, what he was doing, who he was with, and the possibility of any virus transmitted.

Or, should he have come back to the wettest, grossest July in NJ since like the early 1900s, where I couldn't even go to the town pool? Although now, he's come back to pretty much the same weather in August that we had in July. 

He left on the last day of school, June 24. We don't start school until September 9th. When people say to me- "I can't believe you send your kid away for the whole summer", they clearly have no idea what they're talking about. He comes home generally around August 10-12th. That means he basically has another whole MONTH of summer before school starts here. He basically gets TWO summers. An awesome time at camp, then a whole month to be bored enough here to be so grateful he gets to go to camp. So for anyone in NJ on the fence about sending your kid, which you don't even have to do for the full seven weeks, but they STILL have SO. MUCH. TIME. to...summer with you. Trust me, I have plenty of time to tell him to pick up his stuff, be home by a certain time, be a chauffeur, etc,

So far, he's been back ten days. He's been in a theater camp this week, thank goodness, from early morning until mid-afternoon. Then he comes home and if I don't tell him to go do something, where do I find him? On his phone. There are no phones, no video games, and no internet access at Wekeela! I didn't have to read texts, receives FaceTime calls to my phone (don't ask), and hear the pinging of group texts all day and night. 

He has rules for screen time and phone use when he's home. But for seven glorious weeks I didn't have to even look at that thing. It could've been a deck of cards. He didn't look at it. We all ignored it. He was seven weeks phone free and better for it. I have the screen time thing set on his phone but I haven't gotten around to changing it from when he was in school. Like I said above, he left for camp on the last day of school. I never had to set it for during the school day hours. I don't have time to police him all day. If I don't think about it or he's not in front of me, like today, he gets away with more time than I'd like until I get to changing it. It's just an annoyance I wish I didn't have to deal with. 

Back to camp. This was a crazy summer. There were employee shortages everywhere. I know restaurants had that problem and then I heard about camps. A friend of a friend had to pick her kid up after six days at sleepaway camp in New Hampshire because they didn't have the staff to keep the camp running. I read an article in the New York Times that said there were numerous camps that had to close because of staff shortages. Camp is not somewhere you want them getting by on bare bones. Another camp I know with what I thought was an impeccable reputation had like thirty-five cases of Covid run through the camp. All I know is that Wekeela went on for the seven weeks with enough staff to stay open, fully operational, and no Covid. 

This summer was the first time E had any of his friends from town come as campers. Three of his friends came for the three and a half week second session. I was a little nervous how that would be since this is his place. However, it turned out great. Two of the boys are his closest friends. He was friendly with the third boy but they weren't close. It turned out they became very bonded after being there together and now that boy is going for the full seven weeks next summer. And he was the one whose mom was the most unsure he'd want to go back because he'd never gone to sleepaway camp, wasn't that keen on going in the first place, and just doesn't get that excited about much. But, he LOVED it and had the best time. 

Especially, in this weird time of Covid, I feel like sleepaway camp is one of the best, most important gifts you could give your child. After a year and a half of virtual or hybrid learning, fear of getting sick, possibly losing friends and loved ones, political fighting, etc, kids don't even know how to relate to each other. It's like in Footloose at the dance when the kids are all just sitting there until Wren gets everyone up. Kids who used to be somewhat normal, or whatever is normal for tweens and teens, don't even know how to talk to each other! They've barely been in the same room for eighteen months or so. It's really sad. There has been a huge uptick in anxiety, depression, anger, lack of confidence, etc. They need a win. The win can simply come in the form of normalized socialization. Now that we're going back to uncertainty in what school will look like AGAIN this year, they are going to need camp more than ever.

If you're going to send your kid to sleepaway camp, you want to send them to a place who has managed to do it really well over basically two Covid summers. Kids are really messed up emotionally from being schooled virtually, being home with their families almost full time. Who knows what they've been dealing with since this mess started in 2020. To be able to send your kid away to some kind of normalcy, where they can re-learn how to interact with their peers of both their own gender and the opposite, is priceless. It's something we'd have taken for granted in the past, but so needed more than ever now. 

Every summer my son comes home there is more and more personal growth. This summer was no different. He said he had a great time. He wishes he was still there. Three out of three of his friends had a great time. I couldn't have asked for a better outcome. All four boys are bonded in a different, better, stronger way than before they left that only comes from living together for that time, in that special camp way. Sharing their inside jokes, color war, and of course, wearing each others clothes, much to my chagrin.

Every time someone says to me- "I could never send my kid away. I'd miss him/her too much...". My answer is always- "It's not about you". And it isn't. Sure. I miss him. But I also know what I'm doing for him. Giving him. It's a gift of independence and maturity that I couldn't replicate in any other way. It's also the only time in his entire life, I know he's fully taken care of, and I have absolutely nothing to do with it. And being able to grow at Wekeela, where they teach and believe in becoming better people- I couldn't be sending him to a more amazing place. 

The only thing I hope for in the future, is being able to return to having visiting day. Since Covid, B sort of became adept at using the hair clippers and E could definitely use a mid-camp haircut. Plus, I LIKE TO GO THERE. B thinks foregoing the trip to Maine is totally fine. I LIKE IT and I WANT TO GO. It's our one chance to see him in his element and I enjoy it. 

If you're ready for your kid to have the summer of their lives, and then by extension you to have the same, I'll be happy to talk your ear off about all things sleepaway camp, Wekeela, and E would be more than eager to hook up with your kid to do the same. Psst- Earlybird enrollment is now open - I know you probably think it's really soon to be thinking about next summer, but it certainly isn't. Before you know it, you'll be wondering what your kids are going to be doing and it will be too late. I'll never forget learning this lesson in pre-school. Signing E up for only three days going into the 2's class because "he seems so little". Only to get there and he totally could've done all five days. Except I was shut out by then. I had to scramble to figure out what to do with him for those other two days a week because he wasn't a "sit around" kind of child, ever. Grab your kid's spot now! Camp Wekeela

Thank you Cafluns, Wekeela, and Maine, for yet another amazing summer! 

Life Lessons

 

I consider myself fairly educated. I have a high school diploma. I would say it's from what was I would consider a mediocre school in Bergen County NJ school district in the nineties. New Jersey has always ranked pretty high as far as public schools go, and Bergen County even higher, so even mediocre is probably pretty good in comparison to other places. I also have a Bachelors degree in Psychology from Rider University, with minors in Women's Studies (not sure if that's still a thing) & Social Work. Notice though, none of those say doctor. I am not a doctor. Of anything. So I don't try to play one. 

When I was pregnant with E, I had been on message boards for ages already. I was already reading too much. And you actually CAN read too much. The internet is a double edged sword as we've learned. I chose a pediatrician based on not wanting someone old-school, that would push off any concerns I might have.

I chose a holistic pediatrician or something like that. I thought I had chosen the best. At first, it was great. Until it wasn't. My kid had real problems and his doctor was more interested in being on Good Morning America than being available. Then they thought they'd just solve everything with some tea tree oil and massage. Yeah, no, that wasn't going to cut it. But while I was still with them, it was also the height of the MMR shot = autism panic. And I remember those of us in the more holistic camp being in the "we'll do our own research" camp and being with this kind of practice because they spread out vaccines and weren't all gung ho about vaccines in the first place. I think they even took non-vaccinated kids. I don't know because I wasn't all that knowledgeable about the whole anti-vax movement at the time. I was only concerned about the MMR. 

It's funny though, back then, those of us going to the holistic practice thought we were doing so much more, with our research bullshit, and being so careful, when it probably didn't do anything and it was just more money spent in co-pays. Back then, at least of people I knew, it were the more politically conservative/registered Republicans going to the old-school doctors and the more crunchy Dems going to the holistic guys. Funny how the tables have turned and it's the right wingnuts who are anti-vax now. Not particularly people I know, but in general. I don't associate with wingnuts of any kind as my social media friends list gets smaller and smaller....

All I can remember is that by the time E needed the MMR, the pharmaceutical companies weren't breaking up the shots anymore and he just had to get whatever he had to get. Maybe he got it a little delayed but he got it, and he was fine. I was nervous but it was what it was and it had to get done, probably for school. He was in preschool at the time. I left that practice shortly after because he had something wrong with him that they weren't figuring out or curing with tea tree oil or some other holistic measure, I could never see his doctor, and I was fed up with the whole scene. 

Back to our own research. I learned a valuable life lesson. What research was I going to do, and where? The internet? The internet chock full of false information, information on any side of an argument I want to find? I realized- I'm not a doctor. I pick a doctor for a reason. I have to trust that doctor. Do doctors make mistakes? Sure. But generally speaking, they have more knowledge in their field than I do. And definitely more knowledge than the average person I went to high school with, that has ZERO higher education, who has spoken to NO doctors they actually know and trust, but getting their medical info from Dr. Internet. Or getting info from question quack doctors with shady reputations from the internet. Or from self appointed clergy somehow passing themselves off as some kind of medical gurus as well. 

Even if you don't trust doctors as a general rule- We're still in a freaking global pandemic. Even if you think people who are dying under the diagnosis of Covid had underlying causes that ultimately made the Covid more deadly to them or whatever conspiracy you're swallowing, you still can't dispute that 4.41 MILLION PEOPLE ARE DEAD worldwide and it's COVID RELATED. Covid adjacent. In some way, Covid responsible. Covid is in there SOMEWHERE. So wouldn't it stand to reason that you might trust science a little more than a pastor, priest, Candace Owens, Dr. Google, your chiropractor (NOT A DOCTOR. By the way, notice chiropractors are notoriously anti-vax for years. Might it be…because THEY CAN'T PRESCRIBE MEDS?? I love a good adjustment, but still not an infectious disease expert in any way, shape or form. #sorrynotsorry)? Dr. Google told my son his stomachache last month was cancer, so.... #itwasnt

It wasn't bad enough my son had to lose all the special things of fifth grade. Which, by extension, we lost as parents. Then, sixth grade had to suck. Now, we're going to go into seventh grade, which I thought was going to be more normal, only to have the Delta variant of the virus and who know what other mutation, because people had to do their own research or none at all. We have people not getting the vaccine AND refusing to mask. Hundreds of thousands of people are DEAD, but they're still calling it a hoax, not that bad, a government created scam, and I don't know what. As it's still decimating businesses, filling hospitals, and killing people. 

B and I got vaccinated in April. E is twelve and got vaccinated in June. We did what we were asked to do. What we felt was our civic duty to do. What was for us to be safe and for the greater good of all the people. I'm not mad that the vaccine didn't work. I'm angry that people have been so selfish, stupid, and short sighted that they didn't get it and now this thing has mutated and mutated to where what we did could possibly be practically useless. So, when I say, I don't care what happens to the unvaccinated, it seems callous and cold, but if everyone who could have gotten vaccinated did, as soon as they could have, we wouldn't be back to square one now. If they want to pissed at anyone that we're back to being asked or told to mask or being told to stay home again, they only have themselves to blame.

Speaking to those angry at being told or asked to mask again. I'm baffled by these people. I just watch their arguments. I don't feel I even need to get into it. I'm vaccinated. My kid is vaccinated. I have had two vaccinated friends who have tested positive recently. Breakthrough cases, as they're called. They've been sick, but they didn't need to go to the hospital and obviously haven't died. I feel like B, E and Me- we're vax'd - we won't die. So while I don't enjoy a mask, I've enjoyed not being sick of any kind until about three weeks ago, so if a mask kept sickness at bay, whatever, it's fine. We follow directions. If we're told to mask, we mask. If we don't have to, we don't. It's NOT THAT BIG A DEAL. I'd bet anyone, the KIDS don't care about wearing the masks. It's just the weirdo vigilante parents who have made it their pet cause.

However- when I'm watching their anti-mask crazy on social media, first, I want to ask when and where they got their doctorate. I don't know any of them to be any brighter than anyone else so I'm curious where the pulled this "it's their choice" out of their bunghole. No, no. It isn't really a choice. It's putting you, your kids, and other people at risk. I guess it's a choice, but it's a choice that affects others. Like smoking. Not like, it's my body, my choice, in terms of abortion which really only affects you and your family. Actually, NOT having abortions affects us all adversely. Because that's just more people, bigger carbon footprint, more money for resources needed, blah blah. But whatever. I'll stop on that one.

Second, for those with kids too young to vaccinate but still are anti-mask, you see the news, you see kids on ventilators. You see hospitals packed with kids now. Do you not believe your own eyes or ears? Do you just think your kids will magically escape it? Not get that sick? Not sure what the motivation is here. Like, what is worse about the mask than your kid on a vent in a hospital? Or with an illness that has unknown long term effects.

Lastly, some of these people I've seen all of a sudden vehemently anti-mask have never been political, or have opinions about anything of substance, at least publicly. I wouldn't even know if they vote because they've never posted or said anything either way. I'm fascinated, with all of the atrocities of the world- this, THIS, is the cause they decide to take up? One that doesn't even make any sense? I could see if they wanted to get all up in arms about Afghanistan....

The ones on Facebook though, putting up their lawn signs- At least give the reasons to back up why they're anti-mask. I haven't seen one good reason yet, that makes medical, parental, scientific, etc sense. I've seen "free the smiles" which is cute and all I guess. But I'm not really into freeing smiles at the expense of life. And again, I don't really care for my kid, personally. He's vaccinated! He's not going to die. He might get sick, which would suck. But he's most likely not going to end up on a vent in a hospital. At least at the moment, that we know. He has, from the medical information I've received, pretty decent protection. 

The rest of these kids- little ones and the ones his age with no vaccine- they have NOTHING. Except what they do have- parents who believe stuff like microchipping, magnetization, and other conspiracies putting them in harms way, on some kind of farkakte dipshit mission to free the freakin' smiles. Oh, I think I read one of the reasons was some BS about breathing their own carbon dioxide? #debunked #stillnotadoctor #noideawhaturtalkingabout

*I just scrolled by a Facebook article or newsbreak that they're protesting in Wayne, NJ. That it's not about the mask, it's about being forced, choices being taken away... I've also heard parents use the argument that the government doesn't know better than parents. Uh, yes, yes they do. Clearly. Just being a parent doesn't magically make you smart. I can tick off a list longer than most kids Christmas lists of dumb parents I know. Parents that shouldn't be able to decide what to give their kids for lunch let alone make medical decisions that affect their kids and other people's kids. It's a piece of cloth. Get over it.

This mega-maga-moron I know, who IS political online, let's call her Eva Braun, because that's who I picture when I see her write anything, literally wrote on someone else's Facebook page: "There is going to be such an increase in depression and social issues in all these kids who don't see smiles at all during the day. It's no joke". Well, asshat, guess what would REALLY cause an increase in depression in kids?? DEAD FRIENDS, FAMILY, TEACHERS!! JFC, I can't.

You know what? If your kid needs to see smiles so badly, send them to sleepaway camp. If you need a recommendation for one where they manage to make a maskless, Covid-free bubble for seven weeks, I have a great one for you...they can openly smile to their heart's content in another ten months. *Unlike the ones that had to CLOSE or after days or weeks due to staff shortages from the ripple effect of Covid or had COVID itself running through. 

The governor of NJ had to be responsible, as Covid cases are ramping up, and mandate masks for the start of school. People are furious and I've seen people I know ready to home school. They're angry and starting riots over keeping your children safe. Bye girl bye. You're on the wrong side of the debate. Someone is trying to keep your unvaccinated kids SAFE. Trying to keep immunocompromised kids safe. Immunocompromised parents safe.

Does someone need to hypnotize you with that information? Speak it in tongues? Get Tucker Carlson tied up and say it? WHAT??? What will get through to you? 

This isn't like trying to get you to like liver and onions. No one should like that. No one LIKES masks. It's just a necessary evil thanks you people in the first place who want to do your own research.  If you'd have gotten vaccinated in the first place - WE WOULDN'T BE IN THIS MESS. 

But please, go ahead and homeschool! I'm thrilled for you to take your unvaccinated kids out of the schools. And for you to have to see how very f'ing difficult it actually is to TEACH CHILDREN. You know you can't just hand them an iPad and call it a day, right? RIGHT?? Good luck to you. I'm sure your homeschool pod will be very bright considering this brain trust you're getting your information from.

Then there are the ones threatening to move out of Jersey to Florida - to DeathSantis's state. BYE. Don't let the door hit you in the ass. I mean, personally, I think Florida should fall into the ocean, but whatever. Feel free to move to that maskless bastion of stupid any time you're ready. We can use less congestion.

I JUST saw on Twitter some other putz write something like- I didn't get vaccinated because we don't know the long term effects of the vaccine. This was in response to a story about some unvaccinated conservative radio host in grave condition, asking for people to pray for a miracle.  *Update* He's dead now. No thoughts and prayers needed.

Well. Let's see. WE KNOW THE LONG TERM EFFECTS OF COVID CLEARLY COULD BE DEATH. So, which are you gambling with? I had the vaccine. So far, so good. No third boob. No extra horns outside the ones I was born with. 

So why did I write this? I don't know. I know I'm not changing any minds. I just had to get it out I guess. Instead of yelling at people in the shower. Or yelling at them on Facebook. I get to say whatever I want here and I don't have to take any comments.  Darwinism will take care of the rest. 

And if instead, you need someone to be nice and stroke your hair as an appeal to you, which I apparently can't do, listen to this lady. She's nicer than I am. 

Or you can read this one and see how doctors are feeling at this point - because this is how they deserve to feel.

Sure, if you don't want to get vaccinated, wear a mask, or have your kids wear masks, that's your "right". Just don't cite science, FOX News talking heads, Facebook research, and freeing the smiles as why. Come up with something....real.

 

Read here what scared Governor Abbott, who consistently downplayed Covid did once HE tested positive. Oh the hypocrisy…

Read here about South Carolina Republican leader who spread coronavirus conspiracy theories. He's dead now. 

Texas GOP leader- he's dead too. 

Young, unvaccinated father- 36, dead, with no underlying conditions. #waytogoAlabama

A horror scene....

Ladies Who Lunch

 

Lunching is such a funny concept to me. I'm sure most people don't even think much about lunch. Yet, it's been a huge topic in our house. From it causing a problematic work dynamic in family business to sheer impatience on in both B and my lives, it never seems to be just lunch or just food, which, luckily, he and I wish it WOULD be. 

Let me explain. B for work related reasons never felt he had time to "take a lunch". He was working. That meant real work. He worked with men of a certain age though, who were used to the whole leisurely lunch regime. The whole daily, out to lunch at a fine restaurant thing. It made him crazy. He just wanted to shove something down, in his own words, and get back to doing what he had to do. 

Before I got engaged/married, I'd worked in offices where you had to take a "lunch hour" but I wasn't going to restaurants. I was never a huge lunch eater. I was a pb&j girl. Or when I worked in the city, I'd get a salad and eat by myself in Union Square just to get out of the office. I didn't really have friends at work because it was a bizarre place, so lunch wasn't a social thing. At least for me, it wasn't.

When I went to work with B, it was in retail. In retail, you don't know when someone is coming in. There is no lunch hour. You graze. You eat when you have a minute. Guaranteed, the second you put anything in your mouth, someone walks in anyway. You learn to eat fast. On the go. 

I also have a mindset where the day is for doing. Maybe living in unpredictable-short-window-of-good-outdoor-weather-NJ has done this to me, my general inherent demeanor of impatience, and personal priority list also accounts for this. I'm just not taking time out of the day to be a lady who lunches. I do not want to sit somewhere eating, in the middle of the day. It also feels....heavy to me. I know that's backwards because in other countries they eat their big meal of the day at lunch and eat heavy at dinner but I don't know. I don't want to eat MEALS during the day. 

Not that I have to explain this. These thoughts about lunches just stem from the entirely craptastic weather we've had here almost all of July, when it was supposed to be Summer of Tara. When I would typically be at the town pool for as many hours as possible, and I felt trapped in my house due to heavy clouds, stifling humidity and near torrential rain for weeks on end. Any day the sun has peeked through I've pretty much dropped everything to be at the pool. I mean literally. If that means, left kitchen cabinets open, blueberries open on the counter, and mail strewn about like someone ransacked our house, then so be it. 

My friend sent her kid to sleepaway camp with mine for the second session. I imagined three weeks filled with pool days while her other kid was at day camp. However, she lined up a ton of lunches. She asked me if she could take me to lunch for my birthday. I was like, no, thanks, love ya, but I don't want to go lunching anywhere, I just want to casually hang at the pool. I'll graze some food throughout the day and I'm all good.

It got me thinking though, B and I always talk about the lunches and how we're probably the only people who aren't into lunching. My friend says she lunches in the summer because she teaches and can't ever do it during the school year. It's her way of catching up. I think for B and I, if we were to be psychoanalyzed or something, there's something confining about an organized lunch that we don't like. 

Now that I'm sitting here ruminating on it, this is what I'm coming up with. Even if it's a friend and we really like the person. I don't know why, but walking with someone and catching up or sitting at the pool with them is so much more appealing to me than making a lunch date. I can't imagine being busy, stopping what I'm doing to go somewhere for lunch, then having to go back to what I was doing. For him, it's probably more about work and all the things he's not getting done. For me, that's probably true also. At least during winter months, when I'm doing work, I don't want to have to be pinned down to a time to eat when I'm probably not even hungry. 

We don't do a family meal, of which I don't even really understand the concept. Well, I do understand why people do it. People don't want to be the whole short order cook thing. And eating together is a nice Leave it Beaver moment if you can do it. There are only three of us, so it's not like I'm doing six different meals or whatever. It's not even like I'm the responsible for everyone's food. We may eat all together, and we do sometimes. More like E and I, because we like to or have to eat early and we watch General Hospital. I just don't know what I want to eat until it's around dinnertime. E eats like five things. I can't imagine just choosing something for all three of us and being like- well, this is what we're eating, whether you want it or not, because I made it. I make and freeze things individually for E. I buy pre-made or frozen sides. He can put his own meal together from what's there. I have my own things to choose from. B doesn't like to eat as early as we do though, nor should he be forced to do so. He has his own foods he likes that E and I don't. So we're all eating, sometimes together, sometimes not, just also not the same things. Again- not wanting to be pinned down to something. 

I also don't want to make lunch plans to go to a restaurant with you at one o'clock on a Tuesday because it feels like a huge commitment to just sit there. I guess when I'm walking and talking or sitting at the pool, I'm multitasking. I'm either getting exercise and socializing or tanning and socializing in. It's like talking on the phone- I don't want to do that either. I can't do anything else if I'm talking. I can watch TV and text, work and text. Sitting for lunch I think feels like a trap. B gets it. Luckily, no one is asking me to lunch. It just means I'm probably sitting alone at the pool until Kate and everyone else is done with their lunching. 

My favorite days, hands down, are when I get to the pool at eleven, and different groups of my people come in and out all day, and next thing I know, it's five o'clock and we don't know where the time went. We've had great conversation and belly laughs and it's as B called it to friends last night, my version of still being on the college quad. Probably because I know, all too soon, we'll all be back in our houses, in the cold of our autumn, winter, spring, under gray skies, where hanging out isn't just organic. Where you have to make the plans to see the people. Where you can't just drive by the pool and come in, fall into the K-Hole when you only meant to stay for a few minutes, because you saw my car in the parking lot. For three seasons out of our year here, school, work, and our kids schedules keep us so busy it's hard to even see anyone ever. I know I don't see most people I know in town until Memorial Day weekend at the town pool.

Summer is that special time, in this special place, where no one has to make the plans.We all just sort of, end up here, and don't need a plan. And I guess that's what I like about it. This little window of unscheduled time in an overscheduled life. Where no one is responsible for the planning or execution of ANYTHING. And it's just such a short time we get, I'm willing to drop everything, at any given moment to grab even an hour of it.