Family vacations are a funny thing. Essentially all you are doing is taking a group of people who are together all the time and plopping them down…
Hi!
Um…hi…
Where was I? Oh yes, and plopping them down into a new location. But this simple act of geography change can…
Hello!
Uh…hello?
That was weird. Anyway, as I was saying, this simple act of taking you out of your element, out of your daily routine, can expose a lot about your character. For example, my family and I are at a resort town in New Hampshire, where…
Good morning!
Oh, um, good morning.
How are you?
Good. I guess.
Have a lovely day!
Ok, sure.
Man, I lost my train of thought again. Um…yeah, so, anyway my husband and I schlepped our two kids to a tiny cottage on the lake up in New Hampshire for a few days to, as they say, “get away from it all.” A great idea in theory, of course. But in practice, leaving your house for even a small period of time with a toddler and a baby in tow is the opposite of relaxing. It’s basically spending all night getting kicked in the face by tiny feet (because, god forbid, they actually sleep in the bed provided for them) and spending all day hurling gallons of sunscreen at their back as they sprint toward the closest large body of water so they can eat sand and practice drowning.
How’s it going?
Huh? What..? It’s fine. Everything’s fine. Just sitting here trying to get some work done.
Fantastic! Lovely day, isn’t it? Well, nice talking to you!
I…sure. Nice talking to you. Random stranger.
Ugh. Why won’t people leave me alone? People around here are so weird. ANYWAY, like I’ve been TRYING to say, there’s nothing like a vacation to expose who you really are. Everything is different and you are constantly tackling unforeseen challenges, like how to tactfully deal with your son who just pooped his pants in the fancy bookstore…
Beautiful day, huh?
Alright, that’s it. What the hell is going on here? Can I help you with something, buddy? Huh?
Oh, my apologies. Just trying to be friendly. Have a good afternoon!
Trying to be friendly? Well who the hell does that? See, it’s just like I was saying, going on vacation exposes who you really are. And someone I truly am is apparently someone who has lived in a city for too long and is now just super rude and glares at everyone who smiles at me with my best April Ludgate impression.
Only it’s not really an impression anymore so much as it is just my face now.
Because we have apparently ended up in the world’s friendliest town and I am confused and angered by this tendency of people to be overly nice even though I used to BE one of these people when I was growing up in a small town. But I have now forgotten how basic human decency works. Meanwhile, my husband, within 30 seconds of arriving here, reverted back to his old, friendly, Midwestern roots as easily as breathing. I think I even heard him blurt out “howdy” at one point.
And so I guess the only thing to do now is to finish up this stupid column of mine and go sit in front of the mirror and have me a “come to Jesus” moment about how I have transformed into a stereotype in just a few short years of living in Boston…
Oh, excuse me, ma’am? You forgot your purse. Here you go.
Oh, and so you just thought you’d give it back to me? Without stealing my money or anything? Of course. Well, thank you, Mr. Nice Friendly Man. And sorry I sound so sarcastic. I am actually very grateful. But I just realized I am a horrible, rude, human pile of garbage.
Have a nice friggin’ day.
Chick Writes Stuff 