I have asked for (and received) Friday May 22nd as a vacation day. This will be my first vacation day of 2020. (I went to Denver for a medical appointment in January but did not do anything resembling entertainment or recreation. In fact, by going to that appointment I missed the final chance for months to dine and interact with my entire radio family. For someone who works four hours of live radio every morning I seem to have piss-poor timing.)
Here, then, is the problem: I have been hard-wired by my upbringing to expect to DO THINGS on vacation. We Wentworths went on trips loaded with activities: wax museums, antique malls, battlefields (Mom and Dad are civil war buffs), and the occasional amusement park for the kiddos. We had time to swim and sun at the hotel, but just enough to recharge the battery–then it was off to see The Electric Map, or Harpers Ferry, or The Grand Ole Opry.
So I am not one of those people who can take a day off and just sit around the house. I have never done that. I do sometimes take the day after Thanksgiving off but that is in exchange for working a full day Turkey Day doing my little radio festival of goodies.
Now, I know there aren’t a lot of options, but as God is my witness, I will NOT spend this vacation day at home! Alliance’s public transit will be at full service by then…so I could visit the Carnegie Arts Center…have lunch at Ken and Dales…loiter on a bench downtown while reading an “Archie’s Pal Jughead” comic book….make a full day of it.
Panhandle Trails Intercity Public Transit could give me a lift to Scottsbluff. I don’t feel terribly confident about spending a day in the COVID-19 capital of the panhandle. I skipped out on an invite to Scottsbluff earlier this month and the situation there does not appear to be any better now. So let’s scratch that option (although I have used Panhandle Trails before and I will use them again…they are awesome).
On the really crazy end of things…I could fly to Denver! Except they don’t want people visiting there. What if I just wandered around the airport for a few hours then flew back? (God, I’m really desperate here. But DIA does have good restaurants, and a book store…and….other stuff!)
If you’ve read this and think, “What a moron. Stay at home.” I understand. And you’re right, I am a moron. I never denied that. But I am also just finishing my third solid month of pinging back and forth between Radio City® and my apartment, with perhaps one weekly visit to the store. I need to get out. Earlier this week I had lunch at Ken and Dales–my first lunch out in nearly three months…and even though it’s undeniably weird to see booths taped off and tables blocked off…it felt great to be doing something, ANYTHING that represents “the before times.”
I have adjective envy.
I’m not going to go out if I feel even the tiniest bit out of sorts. I’m not going to violate social distancing. I’m not the worst kind of person. I’m just flawed in that I desperately need to interact with my surroundings…I’m not going to say “to save my sanity”, but……………….totally. Totally.
