Thursday, something amazing happened: I took a trip with my two best friends from college, Hedy and Wendy. Amazing because we had great fun, but also because we actually made it happen. It's been about twenty years since we went away together. Incredibly, we are all only 23 years old!
The timing worked: Max and Sabrina are in camp. Ben promised he wouldn't jump off the couches if Dave watched him for four days. OK, technically Ben didn't promise that but he and Dave were out and about in the park, the zoo and other places with no couches to jump off of, so all was good.
We headed to Saratoga Springs, New York. We stayed at an old hotel that was supposed to be charming but was mainly just old but who cared. We got massages then lounged at the gorgeous pool in the state park and tried to be deviant by sneaking in a bottle of wine only we didn't have an opener. We ate really good food and really good bad food (hi, gigantic cinnamon bun at Sweet Mimi's). We browsed cute shops and a farmers market. We took a ranger tour of the state park. We Facebook-stalked and Google-stalked people we'd gone to school with. We sampled honey and cheese and wines and water laced with turpentine or, rather, how naturally carbonated water from the mineral springs tasted to me, although it is said to have health properties. The still, spring water from the State Seal Fountain was seriously good—locals lined up to pour it into jugs.
We were not on any schedule, another highlight of the trip. Also: I left my computer at home and otherwise attempted to unplug.
I felt relaxed, rejuvenated and happy very so much, as Max would say.
I wondered: Why should it take a trip away to make me feel this good? How often does that happen? (See: Once every 20 years.) Don't I deserve to occasionally put my own needs ahead of my family's? Doesn't that analogy about the importance of putting the oxygen mask over your own face before you place it on your kids' make me roll my eyes but yet: so true?
Then I came home and spent three hours doing chores.
Still, if I don't find the fun, no Fairy Fun Godmother is going to help me.
In other words, if you'd like to go taste wines, I'm in.
