It is finally time to write for something other than Jeff Goldblum I know you're all grieving, as am I, but it is time to move on. Sorry, Jeff!
And I figured there was no better way to move on than my post on I Love Lucy for the Favorite TV Show Episode Blogathon. Vacation from Marriage is one of my favorite episodes from the show, although if given my druthers, I could have written about 20 different episodes and never run out of ideas. Still, I chose this one for a very particular reason.
I'm not married, and I find Vacation from Marriage to be particularly fascinating. Anything can become routine if we let it, and then we must even consider that not all routines are bad. You get into the routine of brushing your teeth twice a day, of jumping on the treadmill for an hour, or putting your books back tidily in the bookcase, of vacuuming the house when the clumps of hair actually start to show on the carpet. Routines are a part of life and they usually make life better because they bring a sense of order. Of course, I think this because I am an ISFJ who, in some cases, really loves routine. Not when it comes to jumping in the car and driving somewhere, then I'm a free spirit, but when it comes down to needing a basic routine every day, I love it.
Ruts, on the other hand, are bad. Can you tell the difference in the way the words sound? Routine has a positive lilt on the end compared with the harsh spitting t sound at the end of rut. You just know, whether you're in one or not, that ruts are not a good thing. And that's where the Ricardos and Mertzes are in this episode . . . a big, fat rut as Lucy puts it.