I’m going on vacation on Wednesday. My husband gave my sister and me a gift of roundtrip tickets to Spain. And my sister is giving me a gift of driving me across Spain and Portugal so that I don’t have to touch the wheel. And she’s planned the whole trip. I don’t even know the itinerary.
Those who remember my story about the bathroom cabinet that I stubbornly refused to find for several years will agree that embarking on a trip whose itinerary I don’t know is a huge victory in my fight against everyday rigidity.
“I don’t understand how somebody who changes her political beliefs to the complete opposite every few years, starts and drops new professions, constantly learns languages, and embarks on completely new research topics can be so resistant to trying a new place for lunch or using a different gas station,” a friend says. “Intellectually, you are the most adventurous person I know but you are also the most rigid in daily life.”
It’s true. Once I decide there is only one grocery store in the neighborhood, I will not notice the other five grocery stores no matter how useful it might be to notice them. And the need to use a new car wash will alarm me for weeks. I deleted a book that I had written to 75% completion without skipping a beat. But I’ve been struggling for days whether to get rid of a stained old shirt. I’m just attached to it. It’s homey.
So imagine. I’ll be somewhere in Europe but no idea where exactly. For the first time ever, I have not read every single review on every platform for every place where we will stay. Because I don’t know their names. I’m defeating the ghost of the bathroom cabinet. Maybe I’ll even get closer to relinquishing the old shirt.
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