Staycation – “A vacation that is spent at one’s home enjoying all that home and one’s home environs have to offer.”— Urban Dictionary
Things change, and some things remain the same.
From an earlier Mixed Metaphors, Oh My! essay about Staycations from September 6, 2015, The Pleasures (and Lessons) of a Staycation:
It’s that time of year again when September arrives and I extend the Labor Day holiday by taking my annual Staycation. While students return to school after their families unpack from vacation and pack those back-to-school backpacks full of brand-new school supplies, I take a break from my day-to-day work routines and make my “to-do only if I want to lists.” For me the essence of a staycation is to practice spontaneity (yes, I admit that I need to practice), sleep in if I want to, brunch at home or out with friends, attend movie matinees on weekdays, plan lots of coffee dates, stay in pajamas if I want to and take a vacation from showering for a day, and most importantly write, and edit, and write some more. I read too, essays and blogs, opinion pieces online, poetry and movie reviews and reread my journals.
Pandemic Staycation
Today is Labor Day, and for me this year, it’s the final day of my abbreviated four-day Staycation. Though the time was brief this year compared to the years when I worked full-time and took 7-10 days off for my late summer, September Staycation, it was eventful.
On Saturday, two of my best friends were married. Rene has been a friend for over 30 years, and Leanne for almost 15. Because of the pandemic they postponed their reception until next year in September. Since I was the maid of honor for Leanne and a witness, I was one of the lucky friends and chosen family to attend. Besides Rene and Leanne, Rene’s friends, also of 30 years, a couple, prepared the food and made the most delicious lemon wedding cake and an assortment of cupcakes and cake pops. One member of the couple stood up for Rene. Two others friends joined us, Kendra a Chaplain officiated and Patti was the wedding photographer.
We socially distanced outside and wore masks for the ceremony on Rene and Leanne’s backyard deck, decorated with flowers and festooned with garlands of rainbow-colored pompoms. A caravan of friends paraded down the street, cars decorated with balloons and signs, honking their horns in recognition of the day.
Early in the morning on Saturday, my niece Taryn and her husband Dan, gave birth to and welcomed the newest member of our family, Declyn Rianne Naus. I’m a grateful Aunt to a bundle of joy, my new grandniece with an Irish-inspired name. Declyn name meaning: Anglicized form of the Irish Deaglán, which is of uncertain meaning. The name was borne by a 6th century saint who was baptized by St. Colman. Var: Deklan.
On Friday, I was able to reunite with my Death & Dying Group (it’s more about life and living), on the deck outside at the beautiful lakefront home of two members of our group. We celebrated the 77th birthday of one of our members, socially distancing and wearing masks. We haven’t met since February, and what is typically a 90-minute, once-a-month gathering, went three-and-half hours.
We had a lot on which to catch up, and in the end, also talked about politics and the mishandling of the government’s response to the pandemic and the governing of our country in general, especially systematic race inequality and excessive force by police in response to peaceful protesters.
Things Change
In keeping with the subtitle of this essay, things change, and some things remain the same. The COVID-19 pandemic has curtailed our ability to gather with large groups of friends and family. To protect the health of our oldest, youngest, and vulnerable members, I didn’t get to visit my father this weekend. I haven’t seen him since February. I won’t get to meet and hold my grandniece, the newest member of my family, or see her grandfather, Rick, my brother, or her grandmother, Nancy who live in Colorado and are now here in Wisconsin to be with their grandbaby and Declyn’s parents.
I’ll need to wait a whole year to celebrate with friends the wedding of Leanne and Rene. There were no Labor Day cookouts scheduled, group camping trips planned, brunch and movie dates with friends, or Farmer’s Market and Taste of Madison trips around Madison, Wisconsin’s Capitol Square.
Some Things Remain the Same
What does remain the same during my Staycation, in spite of the pandemic, is when I’m not in public, you’ll find me lounging in my home in comfy, pajama-equivalent lounge-wear. I didn’t shower yesterday, and it’s unlikely I will today. During my Staycation, my to-do list morphs into a ‘to-do only if I want to list.’
Yesterday, I watched a movie at home, Irresistible, “A Democratic political consultant helps a retired Marine colonel run for mayor in a small Wisconsin town.” The film was directed and written by comedian and political-satirist, Jon Stewart. I enjoyed the jokes at the expense of and references to Wisconsin culture. (Note: Not all viewers will, some may take offense). A highlight was to see our own Madison’s Channel 3 News Team featured.
Last night I binged on more content (the ‘New Abnormal’ during the coronavirus 
pandemic). First, an ‘unreality’ TV guilty-pleasure, Big Brother, followed by Showtime’s crime limited-series, Love Fraud, ending the evening with HBO’s, The Vow, another limited documentary series, a truly frightening account of the Nxivm Cult. YIKES!
I usually do some cooking during my regular three-day weekends and Staycations. Yesterday for brunch, I made a pastrami, new potato and onion hash with poached eggs (leftovers for brunch today with a Brittany Bun!). For dinner tonight, lemon-butter baked cod fillets, with new potatoes in butter and chives, and sautéed snow pea pods, red pepper, cashews, and green onions in sesame and chili oil. For dessert, I have cupcakes from the wedding, a lemon and a chocolate ganache cupcake. YUM! I’ll also add an entry today to my new journal, my 13th continuous journal, which I began at the start of my Staycation, Red Letter Days and Nights.
The only thing I think that will fall off my to-do list today that never made it to my ‘to-do only if I want to list,’ is the housecleaning I postponed for two weeks after I experienced some lower back pain from poor posture, lack of muscle fitness, and stress. Instead, I have a new book to read, Madison’s own, R. Richard Wagner’s second installment in his Wisconsin Gay History series, Coming Out, Moving Forward, (and two books I’m in the middle to finish). I’ll make progress in one or more.
Dispatch from the Hideout: Staycation Edition
The title of this essay, a follow-up to an earlier Staycation-themed reminiscence, became the latest in my Dispatch from the Hideout series. The backstory on the Dispatch series and how it grew in response to the pandemic.
I began my Dispatch from the Hideout as a one-off essay in July 2017 to describe my reaction to events in the world and my need to retreat. I was also grieving the losses in my life, the most recent at the time was my mother’s death in 2016. I introduced the series as follows:
Now, before I go any further, it’s important that I share with you that my hideout is a virtual one. I don’t have a cabin in the woods, or a bunker in the basement, I only have my home, a 645 square foot apartment. It’s where I wake up in the morning, retreat at the end of the work day, hideout on the weekends when I’m writing or feeling introverted, and end my days, often falling asleep on the couch watching TV. Yeah, I’m that girl. I live alone and most days I’m happy with that choice.
Lately, I require more time underground at the hideout. I’ve been feeling wistful and reflective. As I’ve grieved my mother’s death (again, still, again), I’m reminded that many of us when we grieve, often grieve all the losses in our lives. For me, once the floodgates of tears are released, I remember the people and passages from the past, generations of family no longer here, the relationships and dreams I lost or let go, and the myths or beliefs I once held about myself, the people I love, or the world I live in that I no longer embrace. It’s been made more challenging by the latter. The world is becoming a place that some days I’m more likely to want to escape from, rather than live in. Don’t worry, I won’t harm myself or others.
Soon in response to our political climate and then the coronavirus pandemic, the series grew:
Soon I discovered that the Dispatch from the Hideout metaphor was a useful vehicle for me to express innermost feelings, like grief and gratitude, moments when I faced my shadow, or questioned my choices, plus the times when I reflected on the larger world of which I’m simply a member, navigating things outside of my control, yet still have an impact my heart, mind, and spirit. The Hideout metaphor served me and soon became a series.
Circling back to the end of February and the COVID-19 pandemic when I was forced to spend more time in the Hideout to protect my physical health, safer-at-home, I soon discovered that the isolation also affected my mental. emotional, and spiritual health. When the Wisconsin Historical Society launched the Wisconsin Historical Society COVID-19 Journal Project, I was all in and contributed eight installments about my experience as I sheltered-in-place.
In the end, I think I now have a book, collected essays, Dispatches from the Hideout. I’m reminded however that though we’re in the second wave of a pandemic, I’m resilient and a creature of habit. From, The Pleasures (and Lessons) of a Staycation:
What I’ve learned, the lessons from keeping and rereading journals, is that I’m a creature of habit. Though I allow my imagination to wander and travel places like a free spirit, I’m pretty earthbound and sensitive to the changing of the seasons, the length of daylight in a day, the heat of the sun on skin, the relationship of the stars and moon to our planet, the color of grass and leaves, the smell of the breeze as it changes from the chilled neutrality of winter to the smoky potpourri of autumn, and finally the conscious and unconscious cycles of my life.
Life is good. I’m grateful. Thanks, H.P.!
Additional Reading from Mixed Metaphors, Oh My!
The Pleasures (and Lessons) of a Staycation
Dispatch from the Hideout: Letter to Loved Ones
Dispatch from the Hideout: Quarantine Bubble Edition
Dispatch from the Hideout: What Was, What Will Be
Dispatch from the Hideout: Skin Hunger
Dispatch from the Hideout: Back to Life
Dispatch from the Hideout: Stirred Crazy
Dispatch from the Hideout: Home Alone Easter Holiday
Dispatch from the Hideout: Home Alone Edition
Dispatch from the Hideout: Pandemic Edition
Dispatch from the Hideout: Social Distancing
Dispatch from the Hideout: Premature Hibernation
Once again, Mixed has made my day – or morning, at least. Thanks for being my bright star today! Lewis.