When the Holiday Dream Meets an Ordinary Tuesday
A holiday shows you a place at its brightest, and then you are tempted to live in the holiday.
Picture a couple named Gerald and Louise. They spent two happy weeks on an island and decided on a whim to buy an apartment there. It felt like the right thing to do while the sun was on their faces.
I find this one of the most human choices in the whole subject. A holiday shows you a place at its brightest, and then you are tempted to live in the holiday.
Mauritius
One story I read is about a person who bought an apartment on holiday, and later moved home. What stays with me is the line between the holiday and the island itself. When you live in a place, the island does not always match the holiday. There are errands, weather, and neighbors. The postcard is one week of the year, and the rest is just life.
I do not read this as a failure. The person kept a positive view. They learned something about the difference between visiting and living, and they were honest enough to act on it. Moving home late is a choice, too, and a brave one.
Morocco
Another story is a first Thanksgiving abroad, spent with in-laws. It is warm. The holiday belongs to one country and the table belongs to another, and the two mixed. The writer was far from the day's usual setting, yet surrounded by people who wanted to make it work. I think that is the gentle side of homesickness: a feast day that is missed, and then rebuilt with people who care.
| Place | The situation | The feeling |
|---|---|---|
| Mauritius | A holiday purchase, and a late move home | Mixed, then honest |
| Morocco | A first foreign holiday at a family table | Warmth |
What I take from it
Gerald might say, "It was perfect for two weeks." Louise would answer, "Would it be perfect on a rainy Tuesday in March?"
That question seems to me a fair test. A holiday place and a living place are not always the same place. Many people discover this slowly. Others discover it the first time a feast day comes and nobody around them knows what it means.
Homesickness usually arrives on the days that carry memories. A kind table helps. So does a phone call at the right hour.
You could…
- Stay in the place for a month in an ordinary season before you buy.
- Plan how you will keep one favorite holiday, wherever you are.
- Invite neighbors or relatives to share a dish from home.
- Decide in advance what would make you say, "It is time to go back."
Which holiday would you most want to keep with you, wherever you live?
Tell us in the comments