An ode to those staying home during the summer vacation

First of all: thank goodness everyone is finally on vacation and I am sitting here behind my laptop in peace without a ringing phone. The last weeks before the summer vacation were a madhouse. A thousand and one meetings, another trillion deadlines, and people weren't getting any friendlier, were they? No, they were tense with stress because they had to go on vacation. I was almost losing it from all that huffing and puffing and I wasn't even going myself. Can you imagine?.

Do you know who doesn't have that problem? The people who stay home during the summer vacation. No, they are actually super relaxed. No car packing stress (it exists people, it exists) waiting in line at the toll, no Schiphol fuss, no witty out of office; none of that nonsense. They might start a little earlier to head to the beach on time in the afternoon. That's the only work pressure there is. I find those people a joy. Correction: I find staying home during the big vacation a joy.

Now I do know that when you have a child, you are immediately chained to the construction holiday. Or by choosing activities in education, even though you get exceptionally many days off in return. But I would love to let all those vacationers taste what it's like to work during the vacation. No one emails you, no one expects you to respond, no one holds it against you if you start half an hour later, you don't have to sit in traffic for anyone, you have hardly any appointments and if you do, they are also super relaxed.

So at the beginning of August, I have a deadline with a group of those stay-at-homes. I can work on it in complete peace and cleanliness without being bombarded with chatter all day long. The stay-at-homes have a code, the I-will-not-unnecessarily-burden-the-other code. And just for that secret code that everyone seems to respect, I love those stay-at-homes during the big vacation.

And then that atmosphere among the stay-at-homes, it's always just a bit more mañana-mañana. No soul would dare to expect anything from you before ten in the morning. And not after four in the afternoon either, by the way. Lunch happens on a terrace nearby and very occasionally, a glass of wine is even poured there in advance. It feels like a vacation IN the workweek, while you also get work done. Don't let the vacationers hear this, because they would almost want to stay home.

And do you know what the best part of staying home during the school vacation is? When everyone shifts back into position behind their desks, those stay-at-homes are still allowed. Boy oh boy, those folks have it figured out well. Cheers to the stay-at-homes, to you.