Those two words can only go together when one doesn’t have to be back in the city on Monday, after a hideous drive down from the cottage the night before.

I had so many weekends up here over the years that were grey and rainy, and then Monday morning would emerge all sunny and hot, blowing a big fat raspberry at me back in the city. That’s why I would make sure to take two weeks of vacation up here in a row. (Why do most Canadians only take one week at a time? Sheesh!) I would get to enjoy two Mondays and skip that soul-sapping sinking feeling of planning the drive home.

What do I like best about being here through a summer week? The quiet. There’s not the frantic activity of people with wake boats and Sea-Doos tearing it up and down the lake to get as much time of summer into their two days of rest. Oh sure, there are still people up here, and sometimes there are folks with Sea-Doos on vacation. But you could knock me out, disorient me, change the dates on the computer to confuse me, and I would still know when it was a week day as opposed to a weekend. It’s a feeling.

And now I get magical Mondays all the time. (Well, until my next life endeavor that is…stay tuned!) I’m not going to cram everything into a weekend, or feel crappy because it was rainy on a Saturday. Yes, I’m rubbing it in. #sorrynotsorry. But I’ve earned it. And when you’ve lived up here in the winters as I have, you’ve REALLY earned it!

I expect to be a weekend warrior again some day in the future. So allow me to enjoy this time right now. I won’t rub it in anymore. I promise.