2004-04-14 @ 4:38 p.m. | Back to normal?

Song in my head: Come to my Window by Melissa Etheridge

Mood: blah-ish

Current book: A Widow for One Year by John Irving


Well, I'm back! Today is altogether too rainy and I'm feeling really unmotivated to write and I'm bit grumpy but I'm gonna do it anyway.

Small bit of grumpiness: Rose and I went to donate blood on our lunch breaks and were both turned away, Rose for low iron levels and me for too high a pulse rate. My pulse was so much higher than it usually is, by like 25-30 beats! The two-liter of Diet Coke I drank yesterday at work (and the 20 oz. bottle this morning) are likely culprits. (Edited to add that I just took it and my pulse is now at 75, instead of the 105 it was this afternoon. Geez, that caffeine must have done a number on me!) Bah. Between the blood pressure before and now this, a wake up call that I should probably cut back on the caffeine and be more consistent about exercising. Meh. Not about taking care of myself - but at these unpleasant reminders. I just want to give away my blood, dammit!

Today I'll walk to swimming, that'll make me feel better.

So, anyway, my big trip! Over and done, and damn, it really was a great time.

Friday (the second), Ben met me near my office to catch the M60 bus that goes right to LaGuardia, albeit at a glacial pace, at least on a Friday evening. We met up around 4:45, our flight left at 6:55, and yikes, did we cut it close. (This is something I learned about Ben during our trip - I'm almost always ready before he is.) When we got to the gate, they were already boarding, and we didn't have seat assignments yet, and when we did get our assignments, we weren't even sitting together, and oh boy was I cranky at all the stress of this (and the two weeks leading up to it) and I was worried what this portended for the rest of this trip until we actually boarded and realized, hello, we were bumped up to first class. Whoo, baby! I never dreamed first class could be so sweet! Ben and I got to switch seats and sit together, we got drinks (okay, he got drinks; I didn't want to meet up with his mom drunk) and I did the crossword in the airline magazine and we got nice snacks and big comfy seats (although Ben was disappointed that there was a big old tray that we couldn't move between us; he was looking forward to cuddling with me on the plane, awww) and wow, I could just feel the stress melting off of me with each mile.

The flight back was kick-ass awesome, too. It was overbooked and we volunteered to take a later flight (which was no biggie - we had dinner at Chili's in the airport while we waited, it's not like we were exactly inconvenienced) and in return we got vouchers for two free round-trip tickets anywhere in the continental US or Canada, good for a year. And then we got bumped up to first class again!

You've gotta love that all I've talked about so far is the transportation.

The rest of the trip was wonderful, too. (I'm afraid that for now it's going to have to be a bit abbreviated since I do need to leave for swimming soon.) Ben's mom and Walter (his stepdad) were so very welcoming, especially his mom. She doesn't look a thing like my mom - she's short and petite and tiny, reminds me of a hummingbird - but she's a birdwatcher and a gardener and she would give us both kisses goodnight on her way to bed and boy, it felt like my mom away from mom. We spent Friday through Tuesday morning at their home in Charlotte, and it was lovely and leisurely - I would wake up and take a shower while Ben made us coffee and eggs and toast and we'd eat in the breakfast nook overlooking the gardens and watch the birds, and the sun was out all week long, and I was so rested.

The seder on Monday was wonderful, too. It really meant a lot to me to be able to join in on a tradition like that, and feel so welcomed, and to eat the matzah and the maror and the charoset (which was really yummy; I wasn't as crazy about the fresh horseradish) and drink Manischewitz (Ben's family all laughed that I wanted to try it; they all thought it was too sweet, which it was!) and sing the Dayenu and basically participate in something so new to me that was such a part of Ben's growing up. (Hee - I also got to see his Bar Mitzvah pictures! He was adorable at 13.) It was also such a trip to be in the middle of the conservative Carolinas with this group of hugely liberal folk (inlcluding a lesbian couple who got married in their temple) all talking about how to defeat Bush in the election. If only I could get that at my parents' place in CT!

There's so much more to tell: driving into the mountains, driving down the mountains, riding around with Ben, the fact that we had so much fun and were so comfortable and happy to spend all that time together, the weirdness of trying to have sex at his mom's house, going to Asheville to visit his sister, Ben's sorta overbearing stepsister who is older than my mom, Neil's hottub, and so much more to come.

And, if you haven't already, you've gotta check out The Office. I'm only two episodes in and already I'm in love.

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