Psst! I'm over here!!

I have a few spare minutes before I get picked up for dinner so I thought I'd pop in and elaborate a bit on the highlights of the trip thus far!! I'll have time to do real details- including a few pics and finding links and such- once I get home. The airport thing and flight thing were totally a breeze. I've not been sad or weepy at all since leaving work. As the time to leave the office approached, I was feeling more and more panicky but it subsided as soon as we got on our way. I think it was more just fear of the unknown... having never been away from the kids like this before, I just didn't know how it would Be. You know? But it's great. Last night, I slept all S P R A W L E D out in the middle of the bed. Very purposefully moved my big butt to the middle and set up my pillows and snuggled in. It was pretty wonderful. My body clock rang at 5 a.m. and I opted to roll over and keep sleeping. Wake up call came at 6- good thing because I was WAY out of it and probably would have slept another few hours!! Did the tapas thing for dinner last night. It wasn't as amazing as I'd hoped and heard. But I have a feeling that if I save my pennies and go with a group of friends and plan to sit for several hours and enjoy a few glasses of wine... then it would be far more enjoyable. The only weird part of the meal was the fried squid that still looked every bit like squid but with breading on it. But I sucked it up and ate it- and it tasted like any other fried anything. The hotel clerk is a HOOT. I don't think he's here this evening. But he is super excited super hyper, keeps this huge smile on his face, and has these hyper happy tics. At first, it seems like he's just kinda weirdly excited about life and it is, admittedly, contagious. Then you realize he can't actually help it and it gets a little weird. Then you realize that he's totally fine with it and you embrace the joy of it again. He will be talking to you and just pop in with these "WHEEEEE!!!" and "YAY!!!" and the tongue blubbery thing. Those seem to be his "around customer" tics. When he is just interacting with hotel staff or on the hotel radio (talking to the shuttle driver) there are a few other tics that come through (gagagagaga). I love that he has found a way for this disorder to be part of who he is and make him memorable and even good at his job. Is it bad to be in the business center of the hotel and not doing business?? Blogging is business, right? Guess what I did this evening?? Something I have NEVER done while traveling. Something I've rolled my eyes at... I used the fitness center at the hotel!! I only did about 20 minutes but I kept it pretty intense. Ran on the treadmill for 3 mins, did a series of 10 lb weight stuff, lunges, squats, etc. Then did the fancy-do elliptical jobie. Increased heart rate and sweating!! Yahoo! My aunt and uncle (my dad's brother) and their kids are coming to pick me up at 7 to take me to dinner- "a new place on Capital Hill." I am pretty excited. I haven't seen my cousins in a decade. We've connected here and there on Facebook... I asked you guys to vote for their website (HotPads) a few weeks ago (they won the People's Voice Webby, by the way- thanks to you!!). Prior to last summer, it had been a decade since I'd seen my aunt and uncle. I'm not very close to my dad's family. A lot of reasons. I like most of them. I care about all of them. But there just isn't a lot of closeness there. But I suppose there is the potential for that now that I am an adult. I am very excited to see them and spend time with a group of adults and have a glass or two of wine and enjoy a leisurely dinner. They pick me up at 7, we meet my cousins at 7:30... so we won't eat until after 8:00. I can't imagine being more "grown up" than that... with kids around, I always have dinner no later than 6. So this is "big time!" The training is dreadfully boring. The instructor seems to think we should all know more than we already know. There are only 7 of us in this course- so no real opportunity to hide in the crowd. He keeps asking questions and waiting for these really looooooong pauses to see if anyone will answer or share an example of something- but we have no clue what he's talking about! We are there for him to TEACH us this stuff!! It's a FUNDAMENTALS class!! So tomorrow is my last day here. It has flown by. I think the key has been to stay in the moment. And saving the best for last... Jeff has been working his tail off to get the garden set up. He's bought 800 lb of topsoil and 600 lb of manure and I don't know how much peat moss. He built the garden bed frame, lifted out the sod from that plot of land, and has filled it with this topsoil/manure/moss mix. He's a regular old farmer! Get ready for the big awwww moment... I called this evening to talk to the kids, Jeff, my mom. When Zach had his turn, I sang "Twinkle, Twinkle" to him. When I stopped singing he said, as clear as day and like he's never said it before... "I love you!" You're a little weepy now, aren't you?