Its been ages since I had a vacation. Its been ages since I have pampered myself all day. Its been ages that I have done anything apart from what I am supposed to do. I crib and crib and crib.

I wake up in the wee hours with my son and my dog who insist I should humour them, I crib. I bustle around taking care of all the morning rituals and start the day, I crib. By afternoon I am too tired and want to rest but can’t cause I have papers to write (and study), so I crib some more. By night, I am dog tired having tucked in the demanding brats for the day, Phew!. But my dearest husband wants to sit around for a while, again I crib.

I reminisce about those days when I woke up when I wanted to and slept when I dropped off. When I packed a few things and took off for the weekend, not a care in the world. I dream of all the lovely places that I want to be and all those fun things that I could do. I make and remake plans. And again I crib.

Somewhere deep inside I know I have what I always wanted. Its only a matter of time before things settle down and I can take my dream vacation or spend the day I want to. But what the heck! Whats wrong with cribbing a little if that gets you a pat in the head and a little cooing sympathy.

Among all that I want to do if I get some time on had, here are a few I jotted down to share:

1. First and foremost I would like to sleep for a week. Ah OK. I’ll be realistic. I would like to wake up at 6 and dive back inside the cover content that someone is there to take care of the baby and the dog. Someone will feed them and humour them. I want to be woken up with a hot morning cuppa and breakfast in bed. I want to go back to sleep for a couple of hours after a sumptuous lunch. Heaven!
2. I would love a nice massage complete with pedicure, manicure and all the extra stuffing that come with it. I just want to lie back, close my eyes, smell the aromatic oil and incense, listen to the soft instrumental, and feel all my tension and stress ebbing. Long enough so that by the end of it I feel like a new person ready to take on another couple of years of stress and hard work. Not the way it usually is with the baby wailing and maid screaming and me running helter skelter all over the house with soapy feet and mud pack on my face.
3. I have been meaning to re-watch all those old movies and episodes of friends. Its been so long since I have had a good laugh. But I haven’t progressed much from ‘meaning to’. I would love to sit down with a pile of dvds’ and watch them one after the other all day till I can watch no more. There obviously has to be an array of mouthwatering snacks and endless supply of pepsi/beer, so I wouldn’t have to go around worrying about lunch and dinner.
4. On the contrary, I would also like some peace of mind so I can read a little. There are lots of books waiting to be read. I just don’t get them home because I know I don’t have the time to read. I would love to lie down with a book like old times and read through the day and night till the last page and then sleep. Once awake I ll pick up another book to go on the same way. I so miss those days when when mum cooked all the food and made sure I was not going hungry and dehydrated. 🙂
5. Sometimes I want to go shopping and keep buying mindlessly. The last time I did this was when I was living by myself and had the whole salary to blow away, knowing I had nothing constructive to do with it. Someday I would love to do it again. Walking through the malls or the street bazaars, buying everything that holds my fancy. I don’t want the inner me asking me ‘do you really want it?’ Or ‘not another pair of shoes?’. Come on!
6. One of these days when I really have time on my hands I want to lie down on the couch with my feet up the backrest, and call my friends to have one of those long forgotten gossip sessions. Ones that make u feel like you know about half the world now and makes you smile while you go about the rest of the day. But most of the people I enjoy this session with are not available over the phone, and its not my idea of fun to sit on that hard chair and type away on the keyboard, to get hold of them all. And then spend the whole time shifting around to give some comfort to my back side.
7. Someday I would like to have enough time in my hand to go through the numerous items tucked away around the house that we last used at the age of Adam. We wear less than half the clothes that we possess. But when it comes to chucking, we lovingly put them all back in with a ‘I can still wear that one when I lose weight.’ Well, you said that last year and you have grown bigger not lost weight. And what about all those bottles and jars tucked away in the refrigerator. I look at them and wonder what they were, I put them back again when I fail to give myself an answer. I want to get rid of all of them.
8. Its been so long since I got totally drenched in the rain, just for fun. I would love to do that soon. And, not just get wet, but go swimming in the rain. I used to love to as a kid. These days rain has become a reason to skip swimming. Have to get wet anyway, then why blame the rain?
9. A lovely cloudy-breezy day. The kind that makes u want to fly. I want to hop into a car and go driving. A long drive, away from all the humdrum. Stop on the way at a road side cafe to catch a bite, sitting out in the open. And then drive along to a beach to laze around the rest of the day. Run back to the car when its just about to start pouring. And drive back home in the lashing rain amidst thunder and lightning.
10. And to top the list, when was the last romantic dinner for two? Ummm…Uhhh…lets see… don’t think it was this life. Well dear partner, how about the most romantic setting on top of the tallest building or next to the quiet evening sea? Complete with good food, our favourite wine and dessert? Sounds nice. Close your eyes and you can almost feel the excitement. May be in the near future if I am lucky enough. Or nothing wrong to dream on.