It took the absence of grumpiness to make me realize that I am grumpy a lot. 

During our last week in Sarasota, it occurred to me that I hadn’t been grumpy since we arrived in Florida.  Not once in almost four weeks.  Unheard of.

So, I tried to figure out why.

For one thing, I didn’t do one thing I didn’t want to do.  There was no pressure to get somewhere, no deadlines, not even any mail.  We got up when we wanted to.  We only had a small condo to keep picked up.  We did not have to bundle up to go walking.  At the gym, if the news blaring on the TV did not suit me, I plugged in my earphones.  I listened to all the episodes of Serial on my phone.

We ate relatively healthy food in or out, although I decided that because I was on vacation, I could have ice cream every single night.

I partially attribute my non-stop good mood to Peter’s good nature, but he’s that way at home too.  Mostly it was just being with someone I love, in a beautiful warm and sunny place with an endless choice of things to do—or not to do.

We need to spend more time on vacation.