To The Fact That All the Clocks in Our Vacation Condo are Wrong

Sunset on the beach: the best clock of all

Malls don’t have clocks. The shop owners don’t want you think about time. Lose yourself here, they say. Ignore your life. Suspend not your disbelief, but your belief that you need to be anywhere else. Try on one more dress. Lay down on a Sleep Number bed and try out all the settings. You deserve it.

Vacation should be the same, no? No schedules, no rules. Dinner is whenever and you get out of bed whenever you are done sleeping. So when we walked in to the condo and saw a large digital clock first thing, I was surprised. And it was wrong by an hour and 3 minutes.

In fact, all 4 clocks are wrong--and wrong in different directions. Some ahead, some behind so that as I move from room to room, I’m wondering, “What time is it really?” and “Did we change time zones coming here?” Why do they have the clocks here at all?

Maybe vacation is not about forgetting the time, but recognizing, as we move about, that time is arbitrary. Maybe it’s 6:27 but then again, maybe it’s 5:42. Does it matter? Would you live your life differently? Stop trying. This hour is like no other.