Did you take a vacation? (Ever?)

Last weekend, the man and I packed up the bags, the car, and the kids, and headed to Mississippi.

That’s where I’m from, the glorious deep South, and though I love my Dad & stepMom, I wouldn’t have been quite so excited about going to the glorious deep South were it not for my Dad’s glorious refreshing swimming pool.

I took my laptop.
I took my Kindle.
I took my notebook. (Okay, I took 3 notebooks.)

I didn’t have any big plans. I thought I might work on the final edit of an ebook while we were on the road. I thought maybe I would get up early and write a bit. I thought maybe I would ignore whatever tv show was on at night and read a bit.

I had a pre-scheduled post ready to go on this blog and my other one for Monday, so I was good.

Off we went.

I edited my ebook a bit on the road.

I got up early and drank coffee and chatted with Dad and Cheryl.

I swam in the pool, floated in the pool, bounced a cute baby in the pool, applauded little swimmers in the pool, ate watermelon by the pool, took photos by the pool, sat in the sun by the pool, swatted giant mosquitoes by the pool, ate cupcakes by the pool, drank ice-cold Cokes by the pool, splashed kids in the pool…

And at night I laid on the couch and watched Shark Tank.

It was great. It was perfect. It was what we call a vacation.

And on the way home, I jotted down a superfluous amount of new ideas for both my blogs and finished up the final edit on that ebook.

Taking time off – true time off, mental relief, freedom from guilt and self-imposed deadlines – can be one of the most productive things you ever do.