Ode to the Hammock

While on vacation in Belize, I have gotten reacquainted, in a whole new falling-in-love kind of way, with the hammock. Oh, what a delight!

The best hammocks here have been the ones under the thatch cover of the palapa, out on the dock that goes out into the sea. Every self-respecting hotel on the beach here has one of these docks with a hammock or two strung out between the center pole and one of the outer supports. It puts you out there beyond the reach of those pesky mosquitos, out over the waters where the never-ending breeze makes it hard for those little guys to find you and mistake you for food. We tourists head out there, grins on our faces, to find respite and the spa experience for the mind and soul.

I had forgotten how a hammock feels like a cradle of life. Unlike a bed that reflects heat back onto your body, the hammock snuggles you in with an even cuddle to your whole body, curling around you so that you have a limited view mostly upwards. I suppose it's a bit like the focus provided a horse by the presence of blinders on its harness, not that I know a lot about that. You can focus on what really matters, think about where you're going.

Then there's the gentle rocking, when there's a breeze, which there always is, here at the Belizean beach. Oh, that is sweet, the breeze making its way through the netting of the hammock. Husband and I have remarked about how, even here in the heat and humidity of Belize, we can get to feeling a bit cold when swinging gently in the hammock. Something about the breeze wicking away the humidity, I suppose, similar to sitting under a fan that is chilling your sweat or shower water off you warm body.

"I find myself sorely tempted to get a hammock when we get home," I told Husband yesterday. "But I won't. It just wouldn't be the same as here. It's dry heat there, and I would have work waiting for me just inside the house, if not right on my lap in the hammock. It just wouldn't do the same thing."  No, I think the hammock is part and parcel of vacation--limited to the deliberate experience of leaving home, slowing down, and letting your mind dabble along in a glorious excess of rest and the simple joy of being.