So, it’s less than two weeks now until our big vacation. Shannon and I are spending a week in Las Vegas for our ninth anniversary. This is our longest vacation ever. We took a week when we got married, but as you know, weddings, particularly your own, are not the most relaxing thing in the world. Plus, there was a lot of clean-up work to do after the hurricane (and the guests) left.  We took a week to hide after Zoë died. Definitely NOT a vacation then.  There was a long weekend last spring in Boston.  And there have been lots of long weekends to visit family.  This is different.

Nope. This is an actual vacation. We’re staying at the Luxor. We have tickets to a Cirque du Soleil show. We have reservations at a fancy restaurant. We may take a side trip to the Grand Canyon. We’re going to sleep late, eat much, drink more, shop often, gamble some, and just have fun.  I even bought a new hat!

But, there is much to do before hand. Work, work, work. Find someone to come take care of the cats. Pack. Clean the house. YIKES!  Plus, we’re working on some new projects at home in our “spare time” that we’ll be making public before too much longer.

Just getting my mental lists ordered has been so distracting that I failed to notice that Saturday marked one year of hearing “You’re pregnant.” Seven months ago, I wouldn’t have thought that I could get that distracted.  Last week, I had been thinking about how I would feel on Saturday.  If the first anniversary of the happiest day of my life would be painful.  To be honest, I didn’t think about it at all.  I forgot.  We slept in, we went out to lunch, we spent a few hours at the bookstore.  We had a good day.  It never crossed my mind.  I’m not sure how I feel about that.

“The cure for anything is salt water – sweat, tears, or the sea” ~ Isak Dinesen quotes (pseudonym of Baroness Karen Blixen.

Maybe she’s right. I remember how the ocean water stung the cuts and scrapes on my legs every summer and how, after a day of playing at the beach, they’d all be healed. Can you cry enough tears to do the same thing to the cuts on your heart?