long weekends, Pippi Longstocking, and vacations

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Two back-to-back long weekends in August. Yes, they came and went so fast that it may have felt like having the carpet pulled off from under one's feet. At times like these, I wish for more long weekends: lots more chances to lounge at home, to go on road trips, or to catch up on watching and folding my laundry. Just like my mom and my dad taught us siblings: 
Habang nagpapahinga, naglalaba, nagluluto, naglilinis. (In English: While resting, wash clothes, cook food, clean the house).
When Tuesday, the first day of the week following this last long weekend, rolled in, I somehow remembered Pippilotta Longstocking, the heroine in a series of children's books written by Astrid Lindgren. I first encountered Pippilotta -- Pippi, for short -- in a short story in grade school (through the Young America Basic Reading Program).

In the short story, Pippi wasn't attending school. She had decided to go to class one day after learning that her two friends, Tommy and Annika, took vacations in between school terms; because she didn't go to school, she didn't have vacations.

The point of the story, for me, was that vacations are special because they're not something being done everyday. Without the daily routine, a long weekend is not as extraordinary.

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