Sunday, June 3, 2012

Thanks to Bob’s hospitality, we had all the amenities of a five-star resort, and more.  The house staff outnumbered us.  Every aspect of the villa’s design promotes tranquility, from its proportions to the furnishings to the landscaping.  The murmur of the river below, the cross currents rustling the trees, and the chants and gongs from the neighborhood temple are stuff of yoga CDs, but this was the real McCoy.

With such scenic beauty and luxury as our home base, Akemi and I settled into our favorite vacation pattern of alternating “chill out days” with “exploration days.”  We prized the relaxation enhanced by no Internet as Akemi recovered from an arduous academic year and I rested up in anticipation of returning to another treatment and a change in administration at work.  After one breakfast, Akemi said with a big smile, “And now I move on to doing nothing.”

Well, we didn’t exactly do nothing.  We feasted on Balinese and Indonesian dishes prepared by Wayan, the head housekeeper, and chewed our way through a pile of books.  As we floated in the pool or watched exotically colored birds dart around from the patio, Akemi filled me in on the details behind her straight-A semester at both Tufts and NEC.  My parenting philosophy has been not to reward good grades, but rather to celebrate accomplishments.  This extraordinary trip was a great way to celebrate her extraordinary year.