The Rewind Vacation

“A lazy evening with soft piano music playing, muted lighting, and a lingering smell of pizza cooking in the oven,” I answer. I was playing a game with friends and they asked me what my perfect evening would be. The truth is, I haven’t had a perfect evening in so long. I’ve spent most of my evenings watching movies on my laptop or listening to music while working on presentations for a client. Sometimes, I would get time to myself to watch a stand-up show live at my local cafe but even then, that was always stressful. The stress of avoiding a work call on a Friday night is indescribable. I honestly don’t remember the last time I truly got to unwind. While I’m reliving my memories of that fateful game night, my phone rings incessantly. It’s my friend Amulya calling. She’s called me asking if I wanted to come with her and the boys to the beach. Hearing her voice gave me a sense of nostalgia. Of the school days, hours of laughing and playing cricket with her and the boys in the park. The memories of that day had barely gone out of my head. I truly don’t remember the last time I did that. She insists that I join her. I feel so tempted to just turn down her invitation. I’ve been meaning to go to Mexico anyway, but the feeling of meeting up with all the friends I had from high school terrified me. She could clearly hear the skepticism in my voice. “YOU BETTER JOIN US OR ELSE I’LL KIDNAP YOU FROM YOUR HOUSE!” she yelled. It’s so much work and I have to arrange everything if I’m going to go. So much money is going to be spent and I’ll also have to take a leave from office if I want my plans to go well without any sort of disturbance. “You know, I’m planning on inviting your favorite person. If he says yes, will you please at least consider coming?” she pleaded. I knew exactly who she was talking about. It had been a while since I last saw him. The last time I saw him, he was leaving for London. “Is he really going to come?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. She sighed. We both knew that him flying in from London was essentially impossible. “I can try to get him here though, shouldn’t be too hard.” I laughed. Her innocence and stubbornness drove me mad sometimes, but I found it to be quite endearing at times as well. “Fine, I’ll convince him to come.” Now she laughed. “I’m serious, I’ll ask him. Besides, he needs a break too. London is boring, to be honest.” I said. She hated it when I insulted London but it was true in some ways. I texted our group chat and asked if they were up for the plan. Everyone was up for it. Is this some kind of joke? How is everyone free at the exact same time? It’s not even my birthday yet. There were only 2 weeks left until then. The trip was the week of my birthday. After days of planning, budgeting, and convincing, the plan finally came to fruition. We all flew in from our respective places to meet up at Cancun. I had never been to Cancun before, neither had most of my friends. The place looked so alive, even in the winter. The glittering sand and the clear water allured me in a way that no one and nothing had ever done before. It felt like celebrating Christmas on the beach, which wasn’t anything new for me. I had celebrated New Year’s and Christmas on the beach before with some friends as well as my family in the past. We spent most of the time in our rooms, playing games and dancing to loud Bollywood songs. Sometimes at the end of the day, we’d all go out to the balcony to see the sunset. Watching the sunset with a cup of coffee in my hand was something I didn’t know I needed but it was something that I so desperately wanted. So much time had passed that week, I had completely forgotten my birthday was tomorrow. I heard a knock at my room door. I looked at the clock and saw that it was 12 am. It’s my birthday, how did I forget my own birthday? I saw my friends bring something in a grocery bag and they turned out all the lights. I turn to see a cake on the table with candles on it. “SURPRISE!” they all screamed. I jumped a bit. They lit the candles and started singing Happy Birthday. I couldn’t stop smiling at all. “You guys planned this trip for my birthday, didn’t you?” I asked. Amulya laughed. “Of course we did, we know that you’ve been busy lately so we thought a trip would loosen you up.” After eating the cake. I was given gifts by all my friends. I promised to open them once I got home. The rest of the trip went by so fast, I didn’t even have time to process it. Leaving Cancun was tough for me, I had so much fun with my friends there and we had made so many memories there. I came back home to a comfortable bed. I began opening all my gifts. Marveling at the thoughtfulness reminded me of my birthday 2 years ago. We all met up for the first time since we saw each other off to our respective universities. Eating cake and laughing about our old memories. We had gotten this pricey reservation at my favorite restaurant. After eating, we went to play golf at Top Golf. I shake off the old memories and begin writing thank you notes to my friends. I get back to my work routine and so does everyone else. We still hold the memories of my surprise birthday trip close to our hearts. Even when we call once a month, the recounting of the time when my sandal broke at the beach and getting cake smeared all over my face still cracks Amulya and the boys up. It's quite a wonderful rewind. I wouldn't mind going on a rewind vacation every year, to be honest. But until then, I still have the memories of a Cancun sunset with my friends while we drink the finest drink the hotel can offer.