We've Got to Get Right Back to Where We Started From

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Great Escapes

Thursday was a hard day, emotionally. I came home, put the baby who screamed (for 45 minutes the entire way home, through his bath and pj's, and for a good 10 minutes in his crib) to bed, and went to my own bed. No dinner, because my husband decided to work late, and he had planned on cooking. He came home a little later, ready to be pissy at my poor attitude re: dinner, but successfully redirected his feelings once he heard about our day.

Part of what was so hard was something I remembered, very randomly, that day.

Approximately 2 years ago, I took a road trip with my two aunts. We piled into Aunt Helen's car and took off for DC, where my husband was attending a conference and my cousins now lived, and we were going to have a weekend together. En route we stopped at a rest stop and had a picnic lunch. It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny, great for driving. Aunt Karen sat in the back the entire trip, reading and snoozing, and chatting with us. They had recently returned from a trip to NYC together with our other aunt, and had a great time. One of the highlights for Aunt Helen was a picture she had snapped of Aunt Karen sleeping in their hotel room. Aunt Helen found this photo to be particularly hilarious, because Karen was propped up on a pillow, with a curler in her hair.
"Doesn't she look like she could be in a casket?" she said with a little glee. I laughed. She did.

We went on to drive through Breezewood and stopped at Starbucks and got ready for the final hour of driving. I snapped a picture of Aunt Helen behind the wheel, sunglasses on, singing along to something.

We ended up having a really good weekend, visits with family and friends, eating goat, and then of course, the car ride home, this time with my husband along. It was, by all accounts, a successful and fun trip.

Of course, I had no way of knowing what we would know just two years later. And when the memory of my car trip with my two aunts came back to me, on the heels of an already emotionally difficult day, I just kind of lost it. And needed to make an escape. So I called in reinforcements (husband--who has every other Friday afternoon off) and left for 2 and 1/2 hours of pure escape in the form of an air-conditioned movie theater and Sex and the City part 2. It was great!

Of course, just doing that brought up another slew of memories, because I watched the first SATC movie with Aunt Helen, our neighbor Katrina, and one of the RR board members. A theater full of women, with the requisite two gay men, and Aunt Helen's comments throughout the movie made it hilarious. So yesterday's escape from reality allowed me to remember one of my aunts in a fun way, with the luxury of being alone and not responsible for anyone but myself for a few hours. That, in and of itself, was the true gift. And gives me some strength to face what the coming weeks will surely bring.

2 Comments:

Blogger vikki said...

i have been thinking about that visit a lot lately, too, and the disconnect between then and 5 weeks later, and then and now. i remember well our discussions about the prospect of a goatmeat supper, but i had forgotten about the picture of karen and helen's observation, and it made me laugh my ass off. also, last night i was reading your status update and trying to remember whether she had seen the first SATC movie, so your post reminded me about the great time she had there.

i guess it's that time of year again.

11:59 AM

 
Blogger MedusaJ said...

J-Ho, please check the West Five Two, it will surely bring a smile to your face....MJ

7:42 AM

 

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