Work To Live

Work was frantic in Stephanie’s real estate office. On one line she was talking a buyer with cold feet off the edge while on the other lines she had an attorney and another agent on the phone about problems with other pending deals. And in front of her, an assistant holding bunches of files trying to get up to speed before Stephanie could leave on her vacation.

After finally resolving all the calls, she looked at her assistant, Laura and sighed with exhaustion.

“Sometimes I wonder if it’s worth going on vacation. It seems like you have to work harder beforehand just so you can leave.”

Laura nodded while staring anxiously at Stephanie like a deer in the headlights, terrified to be left alone with mountains of work.

“But you’ll have your phone on, right? And you’ll be checking emails… daily? More than daily?”

Stephanie smiled and took the files out of Laura’s hands.

“Take a breath. You’ll be fine, but I’m not gonna leave you in the lurch. You’ll be able to reach me when you need to.”

With that, Stephanie grabbed her bag and exited the office getting into her car. On the way home, Laura only called her two times.

At the airport, she called her three times. And sitting on the tarmac, she was talking to Laura until the flight attendant made Stephanie turn off her phone.

Unplugged with nearly 7 hours time difference between her and the office, Stephanie caught up with emails on the way to the hotel, much to the irritation of her husband, Bruce.

“Steph, we’re on vacation. The world will not come to an end if somebody’s appraisal doesn’t come in on time.”

Deep down, Stephanie knew he was right, and she wanted to let go, but as someone who worked on commissions, she worried if deals didn’t go through and clients weren’t satisfied, she wouldn’t get paid.

“It’s easy for you to say. Somebody takes over for you when you leave. I own my own business. I’m all I’ve got.

Bruce shook his head and threw up his hands in frustration.

The next day on the tour bus to a 1000 year-old Spanish vineyard, Stephanie received two calls from Laura, trying to talk quietly as the tour guide explained about the region and the history of the vineyard that shockingly remained in one family handed down from parent to child for a millennium.

Sitting next to her at the window seat, Bruce’s annoyance was bubbling over.

“Steph, you’re not seeing any of this. Look at these olive trees? They’re amazing. Get off the phone. We’re on vacation.”

Smiling and holding up her finger at Bruce, indicating she’d be off in a minute, Stephanie wasn’t paying attention to anything outside of her phone.

As the bus drove deeper and deeper into the wine region, Bruce shook his head at her again and gazed out his window, marveling at the beautiful untouched scenery in his view.

An hour later, the bus stopped at the vineyard and everyone was greeted by the current owner, Carla, a bohemian looking Spanish lady with her somewhat graying hair pulled back in a ponytail and flowy clothing billowing in the warm soft breeze.

“Welcome to Serenity Vineyards. Please join me on the veranda for some wine and tapas.”

Stephanie, Bruce and the other eight people in their small tour group sat on the open veranda with views of grapevines as far as the eye could see. In front of them was a table full of wine, grapes, olives, bread, cheese and small cups of terra cotta colored soup called Gazpacho.

As the other eight drank and asked Carla questions, Stephanie kept looking at her phone. There was no service.

Carla smiled at Stephanie noticing her anxious reaction to the lack of bars on her phone.

“I’m sorry, but we get no cell service out here.”

Embarrassed, Stephanie quickly put her phone in her bag, but then stared at Carla, puzzled.

“How can you run a business if you have no service?” Stephanie asked.

Carla chuckled and sipped her glass of wine.

“I have a fax machine and of course a computer with email. And in a necessity, I have a landline.”

Stephanie smiled but shook her head in gentle defiance.

“I couldn’t do that. I’d be out of business in two minutes without my phone.”

Carla handed her another glass of wine and smirked.

“I was once like you. I didn’t think I could ever get by without my cell phone implanted into my ear. I was a successful financial planner when my brother asked me to come and help with the family business. And I never looked back. Looking around and breathing this fresh air every day. This is true peace, serenity.”

Stephanie gazed at her in surprise, then looked out at the vast landscape all around her, grinning.

“It really is astonishing here. I just don’t know how you can unplug like that.”

Carla poured her some more wine.

“I understand. But then someone told me something that I couldn’t shake. He told me I was living to work and that I should consider working to live. That one statement changed my life.”

Carla poured wine for her other guests, leaving Stephanie sitting drinking the wine and wondering.

Was she right? Had work taken over her entire life? Bruce thought so, anyway.

She glanced over at Bruce laughing and talking to the other group members. Maybe he’s right, she thought.

For the rest of the tour, Carla’s words haunted Stephanie… work to live or live to work. And for the first time on the tour she gazed out the window and saw olive trees, grapevines and a picturesque land that enveloped her senses.

Then her phone rang. Both she and Bruce glared at her bag and then each other. But Stephanie turned off her phone and smiled at Bruce.

“We’re on vacation. It can wait.”