Vacation Needed, Plz

So Laura is sitting in the kitchen, doing physics homework.  All I can think is, HFS am I glad that I am done with formal education.  I remember the hours and hours and hours of late night work, and the tests, and that was just classwork -- I think that my mind has blotted out the years of tedious lab work and fund proposals that comprised the rest of my graduate education.  And here she is, doing undergraduate prerequisites for med school.  Holy cow.  Anyway, she is stressed out and frazzled.

So I got out into the garden, to work and to think. Today I pulled some weeds out of my garden beds, and admired my garlic and potatoes.  They are very admirable, I must say.  Tall, big, strong, and (at least in the potatoes' case) about to bloom.   It was a better day than yesterday up to that point, because my birthday always kind of bums me out -- not because I've grown older, but just because it's a landmark and we tend to take stock at landmarks.  And I expect more from myself than I generally achieve.  Gah.  So now I'm pulling weeds and thinking about all the things that I haven't gotten done.  Stress on a stick.   I had promised to visit my mom today, so that seemed like a good time to go.

But, bopping down the road to see mom, all seemed well.  I set the cruise control to 60mph and just chilled out while the county cops pulled everyone else over.  I pulled into mom's driveway, feeling pretty good, and went upstairs, but found her tired and sad.  It appears that my sister is going to be divorced soon, and mom was worried and upset, as they had been emailing and calling back and forth for hours.  Apparently my brother in law is a jackass, or something.  (Duh.  I didn't like the guy from day one.  But no toldjaso's here.)

I seriously need a vacation from everyone in my life right now.  I think a 3-4 day solo backpack would really do the trick.  Get up into the high mountains, get AWAY from people, and just burn a lot of energy -- yeah, that would work.