No matter what this week throws in your path, just keep your focus: there is a long weekend on the horizon. Just a few short days to go. And it’s not just any long weekend, either. This is the first official long weekend of summer, even though technically it’s in spring, but nobody cares about the semantics because we are so desperate for a long weekend.
There is something about this particular Victoria Day holiday that just hits right, even if, like the Carpenter and I, you’re not doing anything. No cottage. No trailer. No cabin in the woods. No short-term rental in wine-country. Nope.
Just more of the same of what we do on weekends, but three days to do it. And yet, this very idea of a third day makes me giddy.
Sure, we just had an extended weekend in April for Easter celebrations. That was nice. There was chocolate. All good. But what a difference a month makes in weather, in the great outdoors, in overall happiness, in playoff hockey. You have to admit, May is a good month.
I mean, it’s no July, as months go, but you know, it offers hope of the summer to come. Think about all that will happen, all that you will pack into your life between this long weekend and the August Civic Holiday, which is technically the next long weekend, since July 1 falls on a Tuesday. For most of us, that means no long weekend. That’s okay. We’ll cope.
In anticipation of this weekend, we’re setting some lofty goals in our household. The Carpenter and I will make so many plans. Big plans. House and garden plans. That’s right, interior and exterior. Oh, baby this will be something. We’ll break out the pad and paper and create an agenda to start prioritizing these plans in order of importance. Serious business. Tough negotiations (I suggest it. He vetoes it. We regroup). Project management is no laughing matter. Strategy will commence to factor in logistics and deadlines. Targets will be set. Priorities will be prioritized.
Ah, but then the inevitable budget discussion will take place. It will be a short conversation. So short, it may be over before it even begins, because guess who got a whopper of an income tax bill? (fellow freelancers get it). And there goes the landscaping plans.
But all hope is not lost. I can budget with the best of them, (except maybe the CRA, but give me time because I refuse to pay interest to the people who tax me. It’s like taxing myself into perpetual debt). I just have to let go of the desire to keep up with the beautiful gardens and lawns of the pretty homes on my street.
Besides, long weekends aren’t just for working. There must be play in there, somewhere. I’m going to do something truly wild: I’m going to read a new book by an author I don’t even know, based on a friend’s recommendation. Yep. Taking a walk on the wild side of fiction. That’s how I roll. I’m my own book club. It helps with the stress levels of keeping up with budgets, curbside appeal and the CRA.
Whatever you do this long weekend, wherever you go, whomever you are with, make great memories. Life moves fast. Long weekends move faster.
Don’t waste a minute of it.
