tedwords

“When your spirit cries for peace, come to a world of canyons deep in the old land”
–August Fruge

Oh, hey! Last week was a fun one for us, as we spent it in Phoenix celebrating my sister Laurie's wedding. After 25 years of being together, her partner Jen popped the question while they were traveling in Greece this past May. Laurie said yes, of course.

We traveled to and fro with my sister Kerrie, who is a most pleasant traveling companion...and that's important, I think. Kerrie says when Laurie travels she takes Ambient and starts to act strange and eat everything in sight in her sleep. That doesn't sound like much fun. Kerrie says Dad stresses out about the time and schedule, and freaks if there is any sort of delay. That doesn't sound like much fun, either. We just kind of watched movies and slept, and the whole long trip really passed without a single hitch. That's the way travel should be. This had a long layover, too: Boston to Seattle to Phoenix.

The second day we were there, Corb and I decided to get up at the crack of dawn and drive for three and a half hours to see the Grand Canyon. Our friend Sue had described as "just a big hole in the ground," which it probably is, but have to said, it was worth the seven hour drive.

It doesn't hurt that Corb and I are excellent traveling companions, ourselves, I think. Oh, we bicker, but that's part of the fun of it, and we keep good company with each other. I can totally see us living a life of travel in a few years (let's face it, it's when I am most alive).

The wedding was lovely. It took place at the Wrigley Mansion and Jen had it structured and timed to a tee (Laurie and Jen are much like my father in that regard). Laurie was thoughtful enough to place us next to a man who writes the librettos to off-Broadway musicals, who had many interesting stories about Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, and kept the conversation going all night long. Next to Corb was a gay gentleman who has been married for 20 years and loves to cruise the world, same as we do. She truly had our bases covered for us.

What I am leaving out of this discourse is mention of my Aunt Pat, who all of us spent a lot of time discussing during the week there and after. She is the wife of my father's brother, who passed away a few years ago. Pat was horrible during the entire trip, but especially during the wedding, where she treated her daughter horribly, said racist things about Mexicans, switched the seating order because she didn't like where she was placed and made fun of the theater guy I referenced to his face because she didn't like the fact that he spoke too much and took attention away from her.

However, I have thought about this, and in my opinion, devoting only one paragraph to all of her nonsense is more than enough space. Anything else would throw out of balance the really wonderful time we had in Arizona and center this narrative on a place it doesn't need to be. What I loved about our trip were the terrific meals we had, the fun times with my brother and sisters, the trip to the Grand Canyon and Phoenix Botanical Gardens, the hike we took in the desert, and getting a chance to celebrate Laurie's wedding.

I am coming to the conclusion as I get older that focusing on the good times we experience is a far better use of the limited time we have on this planet than dwelling excessively on the negative aspects.

Arriving home, I did experience a few days of incredible dizziness. I was worried about this and did call the doctor (thought the meds might need adjusting), but realized I was simply dehydrated and it was a lot of travel and early mornings. I actually ended up having two really good cardio sessions this week. And the past few days I've been feeling really good...I have even had less of the recurring nagging pains I have been feeling ever since I had the stints put in. That's a good thing!

Time has a way of healing old wounds. Especially if you don't dwell on them in your journal.