Well! We're back from sunny southern California. For those not in the know, Mr. Pickles had a "conference" for "work" in San Diego, so we ditched the kids and I flew out to be with him for a few glorious days. I got to spend a couple days first with my mom & dad, which was a real treat (I got to be an only child!) and then they chauffeured me the rest of the way to meet Mr. P. What a luxury it was to be able to order my days as I liked, while Mr. Pickles was otherwise engaged. I could sleep in! I could sit and watch the Olympics all day! I could take a walk, and move at my own pace! I could go shopping in stores with breakable stuff! I still missed the kids horribly, especially Daniel (he's still my baby). But I made the most of my time, to be refreshed and relish the silence and solitude. It's made me acutely aware of how much quiet time I really need as an introvert, in order to feel like a functioning human being.
So anyway, I'm caught up on laundry (thanks in a large part to Theresa, who did the little kids' laundry for me and who deserves a gold medal for sure!), I'm caught up on email, I'm getting caught up on phone calls, after today I will be caught up with groceries, so now I can devote a spare brain cell or two to this blog!
Of course, I didn't bring a camera and the little bitty one on our new cell phone is crap and I can't figure out how to upload them anyway, so I don't have any pictures to show you. But just imagine you're in a downtown area that's a couple blocks from the beach, so you can smell the salt water and feel the moist breeze, and there are seagulls and palm trees everywhere, and after about 11am it's always sunny and 74 degrees (in the morning you have to wear a hoodie b/c it's in the sixties and cloudy) and there you are.
Yeah, it was hard to leave.
So here's what else I learned during my trip:
----------
A few degrees of latitude makes a big difference in sun position. One hour in the sun in San Diego is roughly equivalent to two hours in the sun in Virginia. Or so the cherry red stripe up half of one leg tells me.
----------
Adding 8 packets of sugar and 6 little tubs of non-dairy creamer to airport coffee still won't make it taste any less like scorched Wheaties.
----------
The nice lady in security doesn't enjoy feeling you up any more than you enjoy having your dignity and rights as a citizen violated. You're both slaves to a phenomenally stupid and ineffective process (unless the point of going through airport security is to prove that we're all mindless sheep capable of following rules blindly, in which case it's working).
----------
Apparently I dread going through airport security more than I do the possibility of the airplane crashing and burning.
----------
Pregnant women are not very effective at steering two-man kayaks. Not enough functioning abdominal muscles.
----------
I never truly appreciated how much more oxygen there is near the
beach. Since I've returned to smelly ol' Virginia I feel like I'm
breathing with one lung at altitude.
----------
Vacationing with food allergies is a daily adventure. It's nothing short of a miracle that Mr. Pickles didn't suffer serious gastrointestinal distress once during our stay. I tip my hat to all the lovely waitstaff at all the restaurants we patronized.
----------
On that last note, I leave you with this video:
