Have you ever picked up a pile of sand just to watch it sift between your fingers?
It’s funny, how most of the grains sail by salty air to distant sands,
While others find a place along the lifelines of your hands.
For over a month, I’ve adored the simple sounds of Carolina’s crashing waves and hungry seagulls. I’ve grown accustomed to the seashells that managed to find a place on my floorboard and somehow found appreciation for the peanut butter, jelly and sand sandwiches I ate every afternoon.
With a college graduation and a career in my near future, I know it will be a long while before I can manage another 34-day vacation. I spent my last morning on the beach watching the sand “sift between my fingers” and wondering how impacting this trip has been on my lifeline.
I filled the last month with nothing more than sunshine, a pad of paper, a pencil and my thoughts. I’m leaving with nothing more than bad tan lines, an increased chance of getting skin cancer, pages of poems, sketches and unfinished lines.
From week one of school my schedule is booked. Days filled with class, practice, meetings and film sessions leave me begging for days of nothing. Days very similar to the ones I have been experiencing.
But what I find fascinating is not at all the freedom that I’m finally getting, but how ready I am to give it up.
Call me crazy, but I need structure. I need routine. I need to get back in to work and in to a regular exercise routine. What I need most of all is to remind myself of how good it feels to deserve a vacation.
I think people are inherently good. Sure, society molds our likes and dislikes, our social views and attitudes towards things, but I think the ability to differentiate between right and wrong is somewhere within all of us.
With that being said, I think that people want to deserve things. I know I do. I want to deserve good things. I want to work hard and do what I’m supposed to do so if and when good things come, I can take them willingly, knowing that I am deserving of it.
So College Advice: I should probably consider writing a book about the things my parents have taught me. I’ll title it something like, “The Nonsense That Raised Me.” But for now, I’ll just share their oh-so-wise-advice with you.
My Dad always says, “Good things come to good people.” I do the best I can and I think I’m a pretty good person, but still I know I was in no way deserving of a 34-day vacation. I’ll leave you with this, I think good things do come to good people, but when good things just come for no apparent reason, I suggest you enjoy every bit of it and when it’s over, head back in to reality, ready, willing and determined to get what you deserve.
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