Yesterday was a blur. We awoke after five hours of sleep desperate for food; we hadn't had a decent meal since breakfast on the Emerald Princess more than 24 hours earlier. Of course, before we could get ourselves to a store for food, G had to re-connect the battery on at least one car. After a $100 shopping trip, we have a minimal start on getting some food in the house. When I say that we had unplugged the refrigerator and pretty much cleaned out the pantry before we left, I mean we're starting from nothing. Even now we don't have sugar or milk or bread or a million other things we'll need. But we do have egg beaters and coffee and Greek yogurt and chicken breast and cheese and produce...we can survive while we tackle the twenty other tasks that should have been done yesterday before we return to the store for a big shopping trip.
We have been so lucky; our not-new cars started immediately, as did the lawn mower and the snow blower (because we could easily use both of these in the next week). There's been no flood, no fire, no pestulance (though I've cleaned up at least four dead flies. How did they get in here?). And I'm really thankful that nothing's gone wrong, because (I'm being honest here) while it's great to be home, I'm a bit shell-shocked! Sure, some things are nothing short of wonderful: watching the twins win two basketball games yesterday, doing laundry without inserting 8 quarters first, having room in the shower to not only shave my legs but to dance (carefully), quieting all those update notices that have been popping up on my laptop and iPhone, using fast, unmetered Internet, watching half of the first episode of Season 4 of Downton Abbey, using fast, unmetered Internet, using fast, unmetered Internet...all good things.
Wiping down the glass shower doors and wall after every. single. shower, making the bed (not to mention the fact that sometime, soon, I'm going to have to actually clean this house), living with open suitcases and general disorder for days (weeks) until everything gets washed and wiped and put away, seeing our yard that was in perfect condition when we left covered with snow-matted leaves... And the reality that after we shopped for food, paid for it, brought it home and put it away, it didn't just magically appear, cooked, on the table. I still had to prepare it, serve it, and then clean up afterwards (my hands are already weeping from doing dishes). These are bad things. Very bad things.
While we were on the Emerald Princess, it surprisingly didn't feel like time was flying by. From about February on, I was acutely aware of how long we'd been at this cruising thing. But now that we're home, it's all a blur, like a photo of a fast car taken with a slow shutter speed. I can pick out very few specific events; I just know we had the best winter yet.
One day I'll have to read my own blog to see what we did.
Thanks for sticking it out with us! I've received so many kind emails from readers this winter, but especially in the past few days. I'm so grateful for every one (but it may take some time to respond...sorry), I appreciate your thoughts and prayers when Mom was ill (she's much better now, and even is getting out a bit), and knowing you were reading along forced me to not only keep blogging but to have some experiences that were worth blogging about (and that's another Seinfeld joke we appropriated- I was constantly on the lookout for blog-worthy content, and would ask G a few times each day, "Is this blog-worthy? Is that blog-worthy?"). As you can tell, when I ran out of blog-worthy material, I just typed like I talk...long and rambling and GPS-worthy posts.
But, as I said in the beginning, this really isn't a trip report; it's just my diary, which in itself is a shocking thing, because I swore off keeping a diary when my older brother read mine when I was 11 and then told his friend that I thought he was cute and I wanted to just die right on the spot...with my brother leading the way. And now over 1500 people know that I dropped my contact lens in a potpourri bowel and dumped it all in a sink to find it, and that I had a root canal on a Sunday morning done by a dentist I'd never seen before,, and that the thought of male pole dancers can propel me up any hill, and that my Miracle swimsuit in a PITA, and my center of gravity is a large one, and that I color my hair and then sit on the toilet seat lid for 45 minutes so as not to color the tiny Princess bathroom Dark Blonde (Warm) and...
But, as I said in the beginning, this really isn't a trip report; it's just my diary, which in itself is a shocking thing, because I swore off keeping a diary when my older brother read mine when I was 11 and then told his friend that I thought he was cute and I wanted to just die right on the spot...with my brother leading the way. And now over 1500 people know that I dropped my contact lens in a potpourri bowel and dumped it all in a sink to find it, and that I had a root canal on a Sunday morning done by a dentist I'd never seen before,, and that the thought of male pole dancers can propel me up any hill, and that my Miracle swimsuit in a PITA, and my center of gravity is a large one, and that I color my hair and then sit on the toilet seat lid for 45 minutes so as not to color the tiny Princess bathroom Dark Blonde (Warm) and...
Maybe it would be better if I don't read my blog. I don't need to be reminded of my public ramblings.
Oh, what the heck. Life is still good. And in the end, that's all that really matters.
:-)
