On Holidays, Vacation days and Plato

Today is Martin Luther King day. A national holiday. While talking to my mom, she mentioned that she enjoys holidays so much more than regular vacation days. I told her that this is because holidays are like having store credit. It's already built in. Nothing to gain by not taking advantage. Taking a vacation day is like actually spending money to buy something. You have to think twice... maybe you'll save it for a different occasion. Unless, of course, you're a total spendthrift, spending money like water- or store credit. Then this simile would not apply to you. In fact, maybe I'm onto something here. Maybe there's a correlation between how quick people are to spend money and how often they take a vacation day... In-depth study to follow.

Another thing about holidays- they're so much better when you have a job. Unemployment is great, (except for the money issue- but that's just a minor technicality) but you don't get to experience the excitement that comes with having that one day off. I noticed something similar as I was getting into bed one night. As I pulled the covers over me and felt the cold of the stone room recede before the warmth of my blanket, I was struck by how nice it was to get warm. And, tired as I was, as I drifted off to sleep, I thought how very wonderful sleep is, especially when you're so tired. It seemed more profound at the time, probably due to the aforementioned tiredness. When I mentioned it to my husband, however, he pointed out that Plato already came to that conclusion a couple thousand years ago.

"Pure pleasure then is not the absence of pain, nor pure pain the absence of
pleasure; although most of the pleasures which reach the mind through the body
are reliefs of pain, and have not only their reactions when they depart, but
their anticipations before they come." Plato, The Republic

Came to that conlcusion and then refuted it, or so it seems from my brief Google search. But then again, what does Plato know?