This Exeter Life: Away Message

Dear Friends/Family/Readers/Colleagues,

Thank you for emailing/calling/reading/speaking to me in person. As you may know, I have recently returned from ten days in the Caribbean. This (the return, not the vacation) turns out to have been a mistake. I have since decided that I will be (mentally) away for the remainder of the winter.

While I may appear before you, skidding along the icy sidewalk on the way into town, I assure you that my feet will be in sand on a warm sunny beach.

While I may be responding to your email or voicemail or participating in a conversation with you, my eyes will be gazing across an endless blue ocean.

While I may be reading the newspaper, feigning interest in the latest current event, my attention will be on the plot of the book I’m devouring in the shade of an umbrella.

While I may be helping my honey recover from the loss of his , I will be happily living on an island where neighbors do not steal from one another.

While I may be driving to work/a friend’s house/a night out, I will really be on foot strolling idly along a country road waving to the locals as I pass.

While I may be slathering myself in moisturizer in a futile attempt to combat my dry, cracking winter skin, I will really be applying sunblock to protect me from the intense equatorial sun.

And as I say “Good Afternoon,” I will really be wishing you the good fortune of your own island retreat far away from the chaos of our over-stimulated (and freezing) modern life.

I expect to be back no earlier than the first sunny seventy degree day. I appreciate your patience during this time of extended mental absence.

All the best to you and yours,

Caroline