this vacation thing, it’s kind of boring. I’m on vacation for a month but my husband is still working; we’re not going away anywhere exciting until Labor Day weekend (first weekend in September). most days i try to putter, relax, read, sit in the sun, go out somewhere, run, make dinner, and vegetate.
yesterday afternoon, one of our neighbors was having a very loud phone conversation, with her head and body hanging out her living room window. the sound of her voice got under my skin very quickly. my husband saw me and said “she’s been doing this for 4 years.” Yes, i know, but i was irritated by her. yesterday she was making me bat-shit. for no good reason. i wanted her to shut up.
i went into the kitchen to make dinner and it was a complete mess. I actually said out loud: “my outsides match my insides, i don’t feel good, I don’t know how to feel better … maybe I need loud music.”
and without missing a beat, husband unplugs the headphones from his laptop (where he’s been working), and super very loud Metallica hard rock music blares out of his computer speakers.
I start to laugh, hilariously, crying laughing. “Maybe i need loud music.”
No darling, I meant loud music that I like : ) … roadtrip music, where I can sing along at full volume in the kitchen while doing the dishes. I will never, really, never in my life, ever need to listen to Metallica at full volume!
But laughing, really laughing, broke the irritated spell. I did put on my playlist entitled “songs to sing”, and i sang in the kitchen, doing dishes. Husband plugged his headphones back in, surrounded by *his* music. I had my music. Some of it made me homesick, some of it made me dance around the kitchen. And after 4 or 5 songs i felt much better.
Note to self: if running doesn’t clear your head, try singing. drinking is never the answer. there’s always another tool in the tool box. That the first tool fails to solve the problem does NOT mean that the problem is unsolveable. Reach for a different tool… try singing.