There are so few times to “get away,” that even a leisurely cruise can serve as a tonic.
   I define a “vacation” as any trip of three days or more in which business plays no part and from which I return more relaxed than when I left.
   I heartily recommend the charter boat company in question. The boat was 70 feet or so long. The fixtures were clean and polished. The members of the crew were polite.
   We left the dock. The Hancock Building rose above us. I engaged in conversation with a very witty woman. The sun shone off her long, red hair. We were served dinner of blackened Mahi Mahi (that, remarkably, nearly was identical in ingredients, taste, texture, and presentation as that served at Flatwater’s in Broad Ripple). Too soon the cruise was over.
   I awoke at about 4 a.m., a half-hour before the usual time at which I start my day.
   The little trip—it well could have been a three-hour tour—left a smile on my face.
   I have not taken a vacation—see the definition above—since 2008.  Trips for Continuing Legal Education (CLE) do not qualify as vacations. Trips connected, even in part, with someone’s business, likewise, are not vacations.
   In sleep my mind found a way to get out of town for a while.
   I should have known I was in a dream when I looked up at the Hancock Building from the boat. Hancock (I passed it each day on my way to work at Northwestern University School of Law (shelving books in the library) from 1982 to 1983 is next to neither the Chicago River nor Lake Michigan. One can see Hancock in the skyline from the lake. In the dream the boat on which I was a passenger was at the base of the building. “Hancock Building dreams” have a certain quality for me.
    I recommend people get away from work, if only for brief respites, on occasion. When we cannot, our minds sometimes transport us.