#NotAllTravelingFriends...

In talking about travel and Europe and friendship …

It was said why would I go abroad accompanied again to dissolve yet another relationship. It was said jokingly but trust I don't wish for that to happen again. Does lightning strike the same spot twice? I really don't know. I just know that I value my current friendships even those newly formed. I believe that if I hand picked any of them, with blindfolds on and in a third world country - we would make it through. However, I'm not going to justify what happened against what could or may happen. The only thing I can do is redeem the happenings that would make anyone joke that I'm "the bad travel friend". Reality is this post has been written, updated, edited, deleted, started over and over again. I'm really trying to redeem my entire experience. Of course, I'm not doing it through this blog but this one post is supposed to be the code change. Right now, I'm supposed to explain that I did have fun … we had fun! Seriously, not everything was bad! In fact, there really were more good times than bad. There were epic nights, many bloopers, happy disasters and inside jokes. I can also say there were highlights to the trip and unforgettable little things that made everything seem worth it. 

My Flying Nun (Ally, Angel, Savior, Friend)

About a month ago I was gently reminded of how long this journey has been. I was out at breakfast and my phone rang. I had a phone call from someone I hadn't spoken to in a very long time. Now I don't indulge in the idea that once we aren't talking daily I no longer need your contact information. I keep every phone number and business card. I have every physical address book, date book and journal. I am not into the digital business of making space for new and getting out with the old. So boy was I glad to hear from someone who believed in the same. She called me out of the blue and within hours we were talking just like old times. Nothing had changed or did it?

Yeah So Orlando

Going home was a last minute decision. It was all so random and poorly planned. There was just an inkling that if I left at that particular moment I could actually get things accomplished. I know now that maybe a great amount of time and money was wasted on the trip. However, hindsight is 20/20.

And We Are Back ...

I cannot believe I'm actually saying/typing this … I have not opened my computer for more than a second for over two weeks. I've simply forgotten it exists. I had to dust it off to touch base. 

I literally just shaved dust off the top of my laptop. 

So yes I went back to Florida … for absolutely nothing. Yet again, not a single thing was accomplished. The food was good though and quite necessary.

I joined a virtual book club. So constantly reading a book has become the new normal and I feel guilty when I choose another form of stimulation. I normally take on a book and immediately neglect it. So I'll finish in months versus a few weeks. Now I find myself on some imaginary deadline and always manage to miss the online discussions because I am behind. We are on our second book so this time I'm trying harder. 

I got sick … all over. First I began one of those Pinterest exercise regimens which killed me. Then I fell doing something I really shouldn't have been doing taking my right knee out. Three different braces later my support knee threw in the towel. Then just as everything goes back into place I get whammed with a case of "Ear, Nose, Throat". All of these lovelies are not really treatable. 

So yeah I came back and started a two week vacation from myself. Wherein I stayed on pain meds, compresses, book chapters and NyQuil. And of course I am still in the process of clearing my late Grandmothers house which is a full-time, non-paid job - rain or shine, in sickness or in health and whether I like it or not. I REALLY don't like it.

Florida was the calm (albeit pointless) before the storm. 

I'm almost 100 pages in a book I should be done with. The estate sale is this weekend. In between the two I rode in a Veterans Day parade and saw "Interstellar". I guess you can say I am superwoman. However, in order to do it all I had to let go of one thing.

The blog. Many others blogs. The food blogs. Pinterest. My entire online life.

And no my phone doesn't count because I mostly used that for eBay research and the dictionary for reading what is turning out to be a very complicated sci-fi novel. The movie watching helped otherwise I'd be on page forty looking up galaxies and stars. Surely, I attempted to update statuses on social media but I failed miserably at that too. I said my piece on November 4th and 5th. I also did my normal "Ooh Rah" on Vets Day. This is so people wouldn't think I was dead. 

So yeah. I'm alive. I'm back. Just beat up a bit. It'll all be over this weekend. Then everything will be back to normal.