Smoke and Mirrors

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July 19, 2003

Ow, damn it.

No, my back is not better, in spite of different drugs and a week's vacation. (A week that flew right by, incidentally. I need another week off, I think.) I see the doctor Tuesday, and I intend to pitch a fit and demand something other than anti-inflammatories, because they just plain aren't working. I was awake (and crying) at 6 o'clock this morning because it hurt too much to lie down, and I have not yet worked out how to sleep standing up.

So. Vacation was good. Jeff came to my place last Saturday night, cooked me meatless soft tacos (yum!) and we watched Metropolis. Sunday morning, we dragged ourselves out of bed at 8 a.m. or thereabouts, and headed off to Vermont. It's supposed to be a very easy, three-hour drive. Heh. It took us just over six hours. We got lost a lot. We ended up in Glouchester, MA, first, which was not right. We turned around, found familiar ground, and kept going... until we ended up in Maine. Yeah, nowhere near Vermont. The nice people at the rest area gave us directions to Concord, where we could pick up the road we wanted, and we were off again. It was a gorgeous day, and the drive would have been great had I not been in pain. I needed to stop and stand up every hour or so -- the stretch where we drove for two hours was very, very bad. When we did stop, I couldn't stand up without help, and even then I nearly threw up, it hurt so much. Poor Jeff. He was very sweet about it, though. I was wishing I'd brought my camera for the weird signs we saw -- the graffiti in New Hampshire that said "Chicken Farmer, I Still Love You!" and the sign for the mattress shop that read "Private Sign. Do Not Read." It was funny.

So. Six hours later, we got to Mom's house, and I happily exited the car. We sat arund and talked, and ate, and talked, and ate some more (grilled veggies, yum) and then drank wine and played Uno and Trivial Pursuit. I won at Uno, Jeff kicked our asses at Trivial Pursuit. There was much laughing (at one point, we were laughing so hard none of us could breathe, because of the following comment from my mom, regarding a question about the movie Boys Don't Cry: "I love that movie! I never saw that movie! Wait, what is that movie?" You probably had to be there. Comedy gold, I'm telling you.

Monday, we went to Burlington to visit Jeff's sister and her boyfriend. I tried riding in the back, thinking it would help. It didn't. Ow. But the visit was great. Jeff's sister is really nice, and a lot of fun, and her boyfriend is a riot. They were a little late meeting us, so we shopped for books (a great vegetarian cookbook for me, and two CDs for my mom) and people-watched. Once they arrived, we got lunch, and ate in the park on a bench, and then went to a newish aquarium/science museum, all about Lake Champlain. It was geared for kids, but we didn't care. We had fun anyway. After that, we shopped a little -- I needed shorts, so we dragged the boys to the mall, which I'm sure they loved. Poor boys. Then, we headed for home, where we ate more, and played still more games. Yes, with wine. That's what makes it fun!

Tuesday was low-key -- we loafed around the house until 4 or so, and then Jeff headed for home. Mom and I went... wait for it... shopping, and then settled in to play still more games. The rest of the week passed quickly -- I helped her out at the church office Wednesday morning, and then we shopped more... we visited a friend of hers Thursday night, and Friday we came back to Boston (yet another 6 hour drive, because I needed to stop to stretch so often. And yes, we shopped. I now own new shorts, new jeans, new pajamas, and a whole load of new underwear.) We have spent the weekend shopping (sense a theme here?) and eating, and watching movies. It's been good. Mom and Jeff got along well, and I really like his family, so that's all good. And now, I ought to go rest my aching ass.

Posted by Mary Ellen at July 19, 2003 10:32 PM

Comments

Posted by: Denver doug at July 20, 2003 12:53 AM

Posted by: nilky at July 20, 2003 02:03 AM

Posted by: rawrin at July 21, 2003 08:01 AM

Posted by: Mary Ellen at July 21, 2003 01:52 PM

Posted by: Carolyn at August 2, 2003 11:30 AM

Posted by: Mary Ellen at August 2, 2003 11:59 AM