Last week was a vacation week for me. I get a couple of those a year but the week of Thanksgiving is the only one to be set in stone. Thanksgiving week has been "mine" for about 7 years now; first because even though I went to work for my current company I was still working at my previous job almost full time and that was the beginning of our busiest season so I would take off and actually work about 80 hours just at one job and then when we moved out here, I took it to spend it with my folks. Another week of days I would take scattered across a day here, a day there. The final week, for the last four years, has been when my dear friend from Massachusetts came out to visit me whenever she can. That was this past week.
This week we only had a few real planned days. We drove to Bardstown, KY (the Bourbon Capital of the World) on Monday to check out a few little locations that are supposedly haunted. The Jailer's Inn was really- really neat. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we just relaxed and hung out together. That's the very best part of having "old friends"- you don't have to DO anything, you can just be together and enjoy one another's company.
Friday was our biggest plans for the week. We had reservations to spend half the night at Waverly Hills Sanitorium, reportedly one of the most haunted locations on earth. The paranormal is an interest we have shared for years so this was super exciting for us. I also made the reservation to include my Dad as his Father's Day gift and we dragged my other half along as well. We had a terrific time and it definitely was worth the money, but that was the beginning of the end of my already tenuous sleep cycle. I woke up first thing in the morning and realized I had forgotten to take out the meat for the spaghetti sauce for dinner so I had to go to the grocery as soon as Hubby woke up as he needed to go there as well to cash his paycheck. I also needed a new phone, so rather than a quick trip to the store it took over 3 hours. Dashed home from there, got the sauce started, baked a cake and then I had a doctor's appointment so I sent Hubby and my Friend to the Zoo without me. I got home about the same time my folks got into town so I met them at the house and then Mom, my Friend and I ran to Whole Foods because we are nuts about that store and the closest one to Mom and Dad's is here. Got BACK home, finished preparing dinner and the 5 of us sat down to a nice meal. Mom and Dad headed off to their hotel and we had *planned* to nap but alas, that was not to be. We picked Dad up at about 11 and headed to Waverly for our 11:45pm reservation. That ended at 4am, we drove Dad back to his hotel (about 20 miles west of us- Waverly is east) and got home around 5am. I had been up for 26 hours and literally fell into bed for 3 hours and then got up to get ready for Churchill Downs on Saturday.
I woke up on Saturday to a big old thunderstorm and I was instantly on alert. My friend has never been to the horse races before, and it's something that I will always associate with going to with my Granny and what better place to introduce her to it than historic Churchill Downs? Hubby enjoys it (even though he had never come out ahead when betting on the horses before) so we were all looking forward to going. The storm cleared out and we only missed the first race. The final race was at just before 6:30pm and then traffic took quite a while to dissapate so we got home just in time to take the puppies out for their evening walk before dashing out to let Hubby (the day's BIG winner- he picked a Superfecta!) take us to dinner. We went to our favorite little Teppenyaki joint (Kanzai in Clarksville if you are local) for a lovely dinner and though my friend and I were practically falling asleep in our plates; we caught a second wind by the time we got home so we stayed up and watched the movie "The Killers"- which kept us up till after midnight.
Yesterday we had to put my friend on her plane back home. I woke up (I didn't sleep in all week- I just can't seem to do it) to yet another BIG thunderstorm and tornado watches/warnings - two tornados ended up hitting a few counties over. So I was again on alert; checking flight status and watching the weather both physically and on the news reports to make sure she wouldn't be sitting at the airport with some huge delay and that we wouldn't be in any danger leaving as early as we needed to get her there since we needed to leave by 8:30 am and the warnings were not set to expire until 11am. I was already physically exhausted from the last few days and this added a layer of mental and emotional exhaustion on top. We got home from the airport and just as I lay down to rest; Hubby asked me to go shopping for a particular pair of sunglasses he has been wanting with him. I thought it would be a quick errand but we ended up not getting back until after 4pm. By that time it was too late to nap because I *intended* to get to bed at a decent hour. That didn't happen. I ended up not getting upstairs till 10, hubby came up at 11 and we watched the weather. I tossed and turned until 11:20, got back out of bed so as to not keep him up and didn't get back until 1am. 2am the dogs were going literally insane because of yet another hellacious thunder and lightening storm so I got them both upstairs and tried to get them settled. I finally dropped off at about 3 after resetting my alarm for 5 and here we are.
Today it's back to work for a very LONG 3 week stretch because my assistant is out on medical leave this week and next and then on vacation the first week of July so I will be covering for her in addition to my own schedule. I try very hard not to wish my life away but this is another one of those weeks that makes the whole "I need a vacation from my vacation" saying feel very true. I am almost wishing it were almost next Friday but then again, midweek next week I will be out of town for 3 days in the midst of everything so I am not quite sure I am ready for that either. The only way to successfully approach this is to take it day by day and remember to be very dilligent with my meds and getting to bed on time and not add any more stress than needed.
Though I am more than a little wiped out, I had a wonderful vacation week. I hope YOU had a lovely week as well.
This week we only had a few real planned days. We drove to Bardstown, KY (the Bourbon Capital of the World) on Monday to check out a few little locations that are supposedly haunted. The Jailer's Inn was really- really neat. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we just relaxed and hung out together. That's the very best part of having "old friends"- you don't have to DO anything, you can just be together and enjoy one another's company.
Friday was our biggest plans for the week. We had reservations to spend half the night at Waverly Hills Sanitorium, reportedly one of the most haunted locations on earth. The paranormal is an interest we have shared for years so this was super exciting for us. I also made the reservation to include my Dad as his Father's Day gift and we dragged my other half along as well. We had a terrific time and it definitely was worth the money, but that was the beginning of the end of my already tenuous sleep cycle. I woke up first thing in the morning and realized I had forgotten to take out the meat for the spaghetti sauce for dinner so I had to go to the grocery as soon as Hubby woke up as he needed to go there as well to cash his paycheck. I also needed a new phone, so rather than a quick trip to the store it took over 3 hours. Dashed home from there, got the sauce started, baked a cake and then I had a doctor's appointment so I sent Hubby and my Friend to the Zoo without me. I got home about the same time my folks got into town so I met them at the house and then Mom, my Friend and I ran to Whole Foods because we are nuts about that store and the closest one to Mom and Dad's is here. Got BACK home, finished preparing dinner and the 5 of us sat down to a nice meal. Mom and Dad headed off to their hotel and we had *planned* to nap but alas, that was not to be. We picked Dad up at about 11 and headed to Waverly for our 11:45pm reservation. That ended at 4am, we drove Dad back to his hotel (about 20 miles west of us- Waverly is east) and got home around 5am. I had been up for 26 hours and literally fell into bed for 3 hours and then got up to get ready for Churchill Downs on Saturday.
I woke up on Saturday to a big old thunderstorm and I was instantly on alert. My friend has never been to the horse races before, and it's something that I will always associate with going to with my Granny and what better place to introduce her to it than historic Churchill Downs? Hubby enjoys it (even though he had never come out ahead when betting on the horses before) so we were all looking forward to going. The storm cleared out and we only missed the first race. The final race was at just before 6:30pm and then traffic took quite a while to dissapate so we got home just in time to take the puppies out for their evening walk before dashing out to let Hubby (the day's BIG winner- he picked a Superfecta!) take us to dinner. We went to our favorite little Teppenyaki joint (Kanzai in Clarksville if you are local) for a lovely dinner and though my friend and I were practically falling asleep in our plates; we caught a second wind by the time we got home so we stayed up and watched the movie "The Killers"- which kept us up till after midnight.
Yesterday we had to put my friend on her plane back home. I woke up (I didn't sleep in all week- I just can't seem to do it) to yet another BIG thunderstorm and tornado watches/warnings - two tornados ended up hitting a few counties over. So I was again on alert; checking flight status and watching the weather both physically and on the news reports to make sure she wouldn't be sitting at the airport with some huge delay and that we wouldn't be in any danger leaving as early as we needed to get her there since we needed to leave by 8:30 am and the warnings were not set to expire until 11am. I was already physically exhausted from the last few days and this added a layer of mental and emotional exhaustion on top. We got home from the airport and just as I lay down to rest; Hubby asked me to go shopping for a particular pair of sunglasses he has been wanting with him. I thought it would be a quick errand but we ended up not getting back until after 4pm. By that time it was too late to nap because I *intended* to get to bed at a decent hour. That didn't happen. I ended up not getting upstairs till 10, hubby came up at 11 and we watched the weather. I tossed and turned until 11:20, got back out of bed so as to not keep him up and didn't get back until 1am. 2am the dogs were going literally insane because of yet another hellacious thunder and lightening storm so I got them both upstairs and tried to get them settled. I finally dropped off at about 3 after resetting my alarm for 5 and here we are.
Today it's back to work for a very LONG 3 week stretch because my assistant is out on medical leave this week and next and then on vacation the first week of July so I will be covering for her in addition to my own schedule. I try very hard not to wish my life away but this is another one of those weeks that makes the whole "I need a vacation from my vacation" saying feel very true. I am almost wishing it were almost next Friday but then again, midweek next week I will be out of town for 3 days in the midst of everything so I am not quite sure I am ready for that either. The only way to successfully approach this is to take it day by day and remember to be very dilligent with my meds and getting to bed on time and not add any more stress than needed.
Though I am more than a little wiped out, I had a wonderful vacation week. I hope YOU had a lovely week as well.
2 comments:
Wow! I got tuckered out just reading all that you did on your vacation week. Yup...you deserve a vacation to recoup from the vacation. You are so right...try to rest this week the best you can, eat well, and take your meds as scheduled. I got my thoughts crossed for you (never my ra fingers) that this week flies by with no downtown from your ra.
What an exhausting vacation! Hope you are not too exhausted, especially today, back at work. Take care of you--as Deb advises.
Post a Comment