summertime

The idea of spending a whole summer on an island somewhere is deliciously tantalizing — a place where I could throw away the clock and calendar and live in the timeless moment of “now.” Well, that place turned out to be right under my feet this summer.

As a Vashon resident for 10 years, I’ve always worked during the summer, like a lot of other Island folks, commuting to my job in Seattle. I usually pause for a week or so in July to go to the coast for family camping and some minimal but pleasant rest. This year, though, I took a six-month sabbatical from my job which included all of June, July and August.

My intention was to experience Island living at its best — the middle of the summer, the whole summer. My plan was to spend days on end, weeks in fact, on the Island without feeling that I had to go anywhere. So that’s what I did, and I have not been disappointed in the least.

I told a friend in France that I would be “en vacances” this summer on a beautiful island in the Puget Sound, and he was envious. People do indeed come from all over the world to visit Vashon Island in the summer and with good reason.

Here is what I’ve been up to since the end of May: fairs and festivals, concerts in the parks, swimming in Puget Sound, picking berries, drawing and painting, walking on the beach, bicycling the back roads and sipping coffee in a café in the middle of the morning. These are exactly the kinds of things I would do if I left town to go to a little island somewhere else.

This summer on Vashon, the opportunities for activities have been mind-boggling. The warm weather in July and August made everything outside more fun. I spent Father’s Day at Wingehaven and enjoyed a hike in Island Center Forest on my birthday, a swim at Point Robinson and a party at Lisabeula. Outdoor musical offerings have been outstanding at Ober Park, the Village Green, Agren Park and the Vashon Winery. And this summer, outdoor movies at the Vashon Theatre and Ober Park! How much better can it get?

I’ve had a chance to do some drawing and painting this summer, an activity I usually reserve for trips to other places. When I’m out of town, I draw what I see around me, normal everyday stuff like a campground on the Oregon Coast. The joy is in the act of creating an interpretation of the setting, regardless of where it is. Vashon Island has endless drawings and paintings waiting to be created.

When I’m on vacation, I spend at least a few minutes wandering through little shops in quaint villages, looking at this and that. This year, I took the time to mosey around the shops on Vashon — the book shops, gift shops and galleries — just as if I were on Orcas Island or Salt Spring. I strolled into one of our Vashon wine shops recently just like I would have done had I been in the Napa Valley in California.

My six-month sabbatical has also given me a chance to be the social creature that I never allow myself to be when I’m “too busy to talk right now.” I’ve decided to start pausing in the aisles of the grocery store and catching up with people I haven’t seen in a while, even if it’s the middle of a weekday. I feel reconnected to the Island and the people here, a connection I’ve missed as a daily commuter for the past 10 years.

I’m an outspoken critic of the miserly vacation time alloted to American workers. I’ve been at my job at the City of Seattle for more than a decade and have only now reached three weeks of paid vacation (my sabbatical leave is unpaid).

My French friend habitually spends six weeks every summer “en vacances” with his family, which is, by the way, the perfect amount of time to unwind, relax and re-create. After the first six weeks of my sabbatical this summer, I discovered that I actually felt an urge to return to work; I had been rejuvenated. Unfortunately, Americans have allowed the average number of working hours to increase steadily since the late 1970s, while simultaneously experiencing decreased levels of happiness. This is the exact opposite of what we might say we want for our lives.

Increase your happiness. Consider spending your next vacation right here on this beautiful Island in the middle of the Puget Sound. I highly recommend it.

— Randy Robinson is a senior landscape architect on sabbatical from the Seattle Parks Department.