A Tale of Pleasure, A Tale of Pain

I’m in suburban Seattle again. Didn’t I tell you? Sorry about that. Anyway, I got in last night after the kids were in bed, and they’re still sleeping this morning (shhhhh ….), so let me tell you about the trip here. I’ll do it in point form, just to keep things brief:

• I hate packing.Stress.
• I was running late because I hate packing. STRESS!!!
• But I got to the airport with a few minutes to spare after all. Relief.
• I started to read Barack Obama’s book, “The Audacity of Hope”. Pleasure and inspiration (the man is a wonderful writer and thinker; I am politically in love.)
• The book kicked off a conversation with the person sitting next to me on the plane that lasted quite a while as we discussed American politics, food security, vegetarianism, work, Windows vs. Macs, family, etc. I felt like I had found another kindred spirit. Lovely.
• Re-reading a favourite book by Guy Gavriel Kay, “The Summer Tree”, of the amazing “Fionavar Tapestry” trilogy. Pleasure. (If only all his novels were this good!)
• Before leaving home, I made an assessment that I didn’t need a belt with the jeans I was wearing. This may have been a miscalculation, as I feel certain that I have been flashing plumber’s crack to unsuspecting travelers all day, as the jeans that just a few days prior had been snug everywhere seemed to be increasingly loose around the waist as the day went on (maybe all the stress was seriously burning calories?). But plumber’s crack is the new hot, right? Right??? Discomfiting.
• Neck and shoulder muscles starting to tense up from stress of the morning and prolonged turning of head to chat with stranger. Pain.
• Failure of self-massage of shoulders, head, and neck to significantly reduce tension. Frustrating. I obviously need a personal attendant.
• Carrying/dragging luggage from plane to next terminal. OH MY GOD MAKE THIS F@%$ING PAIN STOP BEFORE I WEEP.
• There was a pharmacy in the Vancouver terminal! I DON’T CARE WHAT THOSE DRUGS DO TO MY BODY JUST MAKE THIS PAIN STOP.
• Whatever else those drugs might do, the pain was almost gone 20 minutes later. Great Zeus, what a relief!
• Baggage claim process at Vancouver for transferring flights to the U.S. Weird. But not so bad.
• Flight from Vancouver to Seattle. Longest taxi ride in an airplane ever, as we were waiting clearance from the congested Seattle airport. It made me feel sorry for the two women from Nova Scotia who had been traveling since 5:00 AM Atlantic time, and then had waited in Vancouver almost 8 hours for a connecting flight. It would have been much faster for them to have taken a bus.
• Seeing Lisa and Joe, briefly, before we all went to bed. My heart was happy.
• Falling asleep … Utterly effortless.