My title should actually be, “Relax…”; However, with that title I begin singing the song by Frankie Goes to Hollywood…”Relax, don’t do it, when you wanna get to it. Relax…” I’m not exactly sure if the lyrics have sexual connotations (though I’m leaning toward a definite ‘yes’ on that one), which is why I utilize the ellipsis instead of finishing out the lyrics. But the theme of “Relax” is where I’m at, though ironically instead of heading north to Hollywood, we headed south to San Diego. We being my most benign partner in crime, my beloved, Brian. He bears the title of benign because he is my anchor to following the laws of the ‘establishment’. For you see, I do not imbibe alcoholic beverages, nor do I utilize mind altering prescription/non-prescription pharmaceuticals (drugs–for you street smart folk). Therefore my “high” in life comes from the perpetuation of “breaking the rules”–or bending them at the very least.
My Brian does not do those things willingly. And if he does, perchance override the system, his conscience hounds him mercilessly into the wee hours of the night. Not so for me. I am happy to trespass, go through a ‘do not enter’ door, run a red light when no one is around, ride my bicycle on the sidewalk when the sign says, “no bikes allowed”, and drop the moniker of my cousin, for personal benefit, though she is not the songbird one would think she is, etc.. And much to the dismay of my loving husband, I do not lose one wink of sleep as a result of my shenanigans.
So here we are, the grateful recipients of a private shelter, gratis and courtesy my prima, Suzanne Vega. I will refrain from sharing a photo of her home, as I am sensitive to protect her loving abode from the bombardment of more hooligans, such as myself, looking for a free-ride of a vacation. 😉
We packed our bicycles (my Raleigh 1973 and his 5 dollar who knows what it is) into our 1956 Ford Customline vehicle and headed south. We had intended to also bring along our 1930’s kookbox surfboards (modeled after a Tom Blake), but Brian strained his back, thus we decided the ‘water-loggers’ would better serve his recovery if left behind. Now it was our intent to have a full two weeks respite from regular life, and by ‘leaving our nest’ our two not-so-little ones would also enjoy a break from the watchful eyes of their parents. However, given how our vacation began–we were skeptical to the reality of the ‘two week’ dream.
The short of the story is as follows (skip if human feces, and the discussion of it, causes you a problem)…
For some reason, our plumbing likes to fail only on a Sunday. Sometimes it will choose a different day of the week, but only if out of town guests are due to arrive on another day. So on Sunday October 14th, our main sewer line decided to back up. Brian and I were alerted to the situation at 6a.m when our daughter came running into our room to proclaim, “my shower is not draining and the toilet is overflowing.” Since this exact issue caught us off guard two months prior, I was keenly aware that her news carried with it the undeniable truth that all of our toilets and showers (two to be exact), sinks and the like, were now ‘out of commission’. And being it was Sunday, I knew our faithful plumber (and good friend) was also not available. I did put a call into him, just to give him the heads-up of the situation, and ironically he and his wife were in San Diego for a weekend getaway…not courtesy my cousin. There it is…fate. It was fate my plumbing, my plumber, and my vacation plans were intertwined with each other. For when he came on Monday, to clean out our line, he told me the stories of where he and his wife found enjoyment in the southern city–exact locations my husband and I intended to visit in the upcoming weeks.
Back to my story…
What to do in the event my bowels decided to move, as is customary for me after my morning brew (of coffee)? Well being the intelligent woman I am, I borrowed from my experience with the portable head on our sailboat, and I covered my loo with a plastic bag which was, yes GROSS, but a better alternative to the non-flushing option my husband utilized after ribbing me of my ingenious efforts. In fact, I do believe his exact apology came in the form of a cry from the bathroom…and it sounded like this, “GET ME A BAG…please!” 🙂 🙂 🙂 Those little emoticons showcase the laughter emanating from my being as I handed him the bag and he “ate face” in his own stubborn toilet-y mess. Not exactly the best overall tone in which to launch an intimate, and relaxing, vacation–but it is how we started. I promise, I don’t make this stuff up…life hands it to me in the bag! hahahahahaahahaha (oh that was bad)
San Diego at last, albeit the relaxing part is a work in progress.
Our first week was a trial in error, with our bicycles and extended family helping to keep us accountable to our ‘vacating’ frame of mind. We were blessed with agreeable weather and the legs to pedal us forward. The plumbing has been superb which proves complimentary to my freshly ground, morning cup-o-joe. Brian and I are very much in synch when it comes to our interests in architecture, history, design, and culture (well I’m more of a culture buff than he, though he lends me his listening ear as I explain the “Dia de los muertos” influence and tradition, seen more rampantly here in the border-near town of San Diego). Although his knowledge of history gives my cultural education a run for its money. In other words, we are complimentary one to the other and enjoy tooling around investigating ‘new to us’ finds and locales. So far our children are faring well…minus a trip to the doctor for my daughter’s ailing kidneys for which her brother foot the bill, and an emotional hiccup for my son who was grateful to have the nurturing comfort of his loving sister. Given the circumstances of the last two mentioned, it is a wonder I am still here…on vacation. I say “I” because my husband has found himself in the middle of an employment opportunity, right here in Little Italy, San Diego. He has been commissioned to design and build a new office space for a creative firm. Being we were already down this way, he took the position. We trekked back home yesterday so he could gather his tools and such, paint a few paintings, and then head back down. The timing was perfect because I needed to re-group as I ended up being plagued with a horrible migraine headache, which required my being home for a few moments to get it under control. I dropped him off at the location this morning and returned to my little bungalow away from home…alone.
Today relaxing means to me, the opportunity to be quiet. Do a load of laundry. Clean the borrowed bathroom. Remove the full trash bags and replace them with empty ones. Eat lunch utilizing the leftovers from my cousins ‘main house’, and sit in silence as I write this blog post. Relaxing to Brian means, creating and spending his time engaging his artistically fabulous gifts. What a good life! 🙂
More on the second week of our journey next time. La vie c’est grand…
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- My Fonz
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- Military Mom USMC
living in loss and gratitude 
I am just going to say that in my house if something questionable comes up we look at eachother and say what would Auntie do???? The answer is usually place the order the way you want that makes the waitress roll her eyes. Go through the closed door to see what is behind it. And many other ways my seester has influence my husband and my kids. So for that Pish I thank you. Enjoy the rest of your vacation with your husband. Love you both and give bannay abd her family my love too.
Your comment just made my life…Thank You!
xoxo