VACATION, VACATION, VACATION!!!

It's finally less than two weeks until I leave for Oregon to see my family! This summer has been maybe the best one ever-I've been out with great people and my kids/grandson, doing fun stuff, trying new things, riding my bike- but I still feel the need to get away, to get out of the routine, a change of scenery...This week Wednesday is my last class-then three weeks off before I start my second year of my masters program-YES!! I am so burnt-out from school at this point that it's a good thing we have a break or I don't think I could do anymore! Ever been there? To someone who works two jobs and goes to school full time, vacation is the most prized of days. Boy, do they ever fly by! I swear they go twice as fast as normal work/school days! I was reading in the paper yesterday that Americans are actually the worst vacation takers in the world. By worst, I mean that they take the least vacation time of any industrialized nation in the world. In fact, the article went on to say that the average American fails to take 3 days of vacation per year that they are entitiled through their employers and that's DOWN from last year when the estimate was 4! The math works out to be 438 million days just thrown away! We do this why?? Some of the experts say that it's a throwback from the Puritanical work ethic, others speculate that it's because people are afraid of losing their jobs in this frightening economy and so are paying more attention than they should to their jobs and neglecting personal life, and still others think that people save those vacation days for when emergencies arise such as sick kids or having to wait for a service or delivery person at their home. In many other parts of the world, the government has a minimum mandated number of days you MUST take per year. The European Union says 20 days off a year minimum! France requires 30 days plus a paid holiday. The Austrians and the Potugese have us all beat: 22 vacation days plus 13 holidays are required!I wonder what impact taking more vacation would have on this country. I imagine less uptight, strung out people walking around. Maybe more families that are bonded on a deeper level. Marriages that are in less chaos. Really, I think it's about achieving balance in our lives. That's so hard to do! We all recognize that we need balance. Just about everyone I know, including myself, is so overscheduled, harrassed, and frazzled that half the time we don't know if we're on foot or horseback! Guess it's time us Americans get our slack on! I'm prepared to do my part to right this wrong! Lana is ready to slack away! Oregon, here I come...