Calgon, take me away!

It’s been an unusual several days.  We’re normally such homebodies, with our quiet routines and our simple pleasures.  But since my night away with Neil for his birthday last Tuesday, my routine has taken such a hit.

Wednesday was his actual birthday, and so of course we needed to all go out for supper together, since the kids missed out on the Tuesday celebration.

Thursday morning Neil was to be on a flight to Reno at 5:30am, but his taxi never showed.  So there we were, 4am, gently shaking the kids awake and telling them to get in the car – we’re taking Daddy to the airport.  Once the grogginess wore off, Eamonn couldn’t stop extolling the virtues of pre-dawn car rides:  “This is great,” “we should do this again sometime,” and “this is so AWESOME!” Once we’d dropped Neil off and were headed back home, there was talk of watching the sunrise.  We got in the house, I googled sunrise time, told the kids it would be another half hour, pointed out the window with the best vantage point, and then told them I was going back to bed.  If they were still awake at 6:08, they were welcome to watch the sun come up.  And with that, we all piled into the same big bed, fell instantly to sleep, and missed the rising sun together.

Since that morning, there has been a dental appointment for me, a visit with my mother and nephew, three meals out and two bagel runs, a handful of trips to the library, a new camera to play with, a business meeting, one Priceline hotel night (we got a local Courtyard by Marriott with a pool this time), a visit with my in-laws including a nice meal for all of us and a sleepover for Eamonn, a late night with Aidan watching the Hugo Awards streaming live from Reno and cheering on Neil and Clarkesworld Magazine (they won!) until 1am, many many thunderstorms, a bit of brotherly bickering, and just entirely too much action and go! go! go! for this peace-loving girl.

At least I had a new toy for most of it, and got to take a whole pile of pictures, mostly of our less-than-healthy supper choices and of horsing around in the hotel courtyard.

Neil comes home today.  We will pick him up at the airport, welcome home our two-time Hugo Award winner with glee, and then I am booking my own weekend away with nothing but a camera and a crochet hook for company. (not really, but it does sound oh, so nice now that I mention it!)