(and sparklers)We went to Bear Lake for the week of the 4th of July and she and Amy came. She loved the water (once the sun came out) so much that she wanted to drink it. Amy said she does this in the bathtub a lot, so maybe she thought that Bear Lake was just a really big, messy, grassy bathtub. Or she was just curious.
Either way, we ALL cracked up. And because Ester loves making people laugh, she did it again! She thought that was very funny.
Seriously, cutest face ever? Thought so. She thought the grass was pretty nifty, too, even though she didn't try and eat any of it. (Question: do I overuse commas?)
My parents rented a jetski (which is apparently a brand name?) and Sara & Dad took Ester on a quick ride. I love jetskis.
She thought that was pretty much the coolest thing ever. The life jacket didn't really fit... but I think that kind of adds to the adorableness of it.Now on to the self-indulgent part of this post. I've been thinking about two main things recently: 1) the worlds we inhabit and 2) deserved vacations.
1) The worlds we inhabit. I have a theory that every person inhabits at two worlds: home and other. The size of one determines how big you need the other one to be. Let's say, for argument's sake, that the normal person needs 100% of "world" in order to maintain a relative amount of sanity. If your inside world is large on variety (i.e. lots of people, big house, things to do, lots of distractions, etc.) then that counts as, say 75% of your world. Your outside world, therefore, needs only be 25% large. That is not large! You could go out once or twice a week, even just shopping and to church and you would probably be content.
Same thing goes in reverse: if your outside world is large (i.e. going to college classes, working full time, etc -- where you see lots of people and have lots of interaction with the "outside world") then your inside world doesn't need to be big. If your outside world takes up 80% of your world, you would probably feel cozy inside of a one-bedroom apartment.
The problem arises when your worlds are out of balance -- living in a one-bedroom apartment (20% of a world if you're being generous) and you have a very small outside world. You start to feel crazy. Cabin fever, to quote the Muppets.
2) Deserved vacations. Let's rewind to elementary school. Remember how summer vacation felt amazing and amazingly short? Same thing for middle school, high school. You craved summer vacation. But then... about halfway through July, you started to feel kinda.. well. Bored. At least I did. Maybe you were one of those school-haters who never missed it in the summer. I always felt antsy. Thankfully, that was when girls' camp and family vacation usually happened, so it was enough to tide me over into August.
But it wasn't summer vacation that I loved the most -- it was Winter and Spring break. I craved those breaks and I think it was because I felt like I deserved them. I felt the same way this year while teaching. I needed winter and spring breaks to recharge and I when I relaxed every single day and did nothing but watch Vlogbrothers on youtube I had no guilt. Because I had been working my butt off before that break and I knew I'd go right back to working my butt off after that break. Maybe it's an American phenomenon (I've wondered since I read Eat Pray Love) but I think we appreciate vacations when we feel like we've earned them. Compare getting a day off to having no job. I tell you which one I'd prefer. Retreating into our 20% inside world feels relaxing when your outside world is so big it's almost crushing.
I can't help but feel kind of nostalgic for work and that makes me feel stupid. Everyone tells me how I should be grateful to have a break, "I wish I had a summer off!" but it's.... lonely. I wish we lived closer to Ester. Or that Ester lived close to us. Cause you KNOW that would help.
Conclusion? I need to make a bigger outside world.
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