Deep Breath, Leap, Drink

The truth is, I'd been having kind of a rough time.  No matter what I did, I just couldn't get things to go well.  And the more I tried, the worse I ended up botching things, which stressed me out even more.  I was mighty down.  I begged off blogging, dancing, a lot of things.  

It got to the point where I realized that I needed to make a change.  I needed for something to change, and I had to be the one to make it happen.  I started to make plans to change things in my life.  Taking in more freelance work.  Studying up about how to make that work more profitable.  And then I thought, why not just do this?  Just freelance full time?  Seems marvelous, doesn't it?  The ability to set your own hours.  Stay at home with the kids.  Actually cook and clean (baaahahahaaa).  So I started to look into it.  Started to think, hey, I could do this.  And I told my husband that this is what I was going to do.  

Ahem.  

Meanwhile. At precisely that time...

Something else that started out as a shot in the dark a few months back unexpectedly turned into a real, viable career option.  I hadn't really thought about the opportunity, only that I'd be a fool not to try.  I had been surprised to get the second interview.  Even more surprised when they offered the position to me.  

But... what about my business?  My own business?  

My independence will keep.  Independence merely waits for me to declare it.  But this opportunity is now, and it will never come again.  It's a chance to learn and grow and network and make friends.  I avail myself of it.  If I hadn't been focusing on the future filled with possibilities, I might not have done well in those interviews.  Life has a strange sense of timing. 

Blah blah blah.  

Anyway!

D tells me he wants to take me for a relaxcation to celebrate my ... Change of Life?  No, no that refers to something else.  The End of My Midlife Crisis?  Ha.  Fat chance.  Let's just say career advancement, shall we?  

Anyway, he gets the idea that we'll go on vacation in Daniel Boone National Forest.  He wanted to see a monument (ha) called Natural Bridge.  

Bobby was excited to go..!

Until he got carsick, making him nervous for the rest of the trip, and my car smelly.

 Bobby covertly threw up in the back seat on the way down to Kentucky.  We didn't see it until the next day, after it had crusted over.  It explained why we couldn't coax him into the car for the rest of the trip.  But other than that we got there in one piece, though I was pretty nauseous from the winding kentucky roads and irritated that there was no plan.  But we hopped from Cave Run Lake to the National Bridge vicinity.  So there we were, tromping in the underbrush and dropping our jaws when we were told that we couldn't bring our dog into the forest.  In the forest.  

Is he going to wreck the forest?  On a leash?  We have poo bags, though, what if we...no?  Alright then.  

It had taken an hour to drive there, so we weren't going to drive an hour back to deposit the dog at the hotel.  And we couldn't leave him tied up somewhere because... well, he's adorable and some dastardly dog lover might abscond with him.  So, with Dog in car in the shade, we aggressively tackled an hour up-hill slog in half the time.  Panting, blood pumping like mad, pissed off (me) we made our way up the surprisingly steep incline.  I'm sure the scenery would be lovely if you were strolling along and taking it in.  But we couldn't stroll, Dog was in the car and it was hot. We had to stare at the ground and our feet so as not to faceplant onto the trail.  Even so, at our heart-attack inducing pace it was all we could do not to trip on tree roots and such.  I resented the forest.  I resented the monument.  I resented my husband.  I resented relaxcation.

Relaxcation my arse.  

Soaked with sweat and gasping we reached the top and stood on a massive rock (stupid rock) down at sweeping views of the forest (stupid forest).  I sniffed and sneered and (internally) said some very heated things.  Then down we went again.  Eyeballing our footsteps for roots and rocks and trying not to break our ankles.  

I think people have different ideas of relaxcations.  Winding, carsick inducing road-trips through uuuuuup and dooooowwwwn rolling hills, with heart-pounding speed-hikes for an encore are not my idea of relaxing.  

Hey, different strokes.  God love D for trying.

We left the rock bridge thing whatever to go get some food.  We tried nearby Winchester, drove it from end to end only to discover that nearly every restaurant except Subway was closed after 2pm on a Saturday.  While calling around to all the local cafes, D got as hungry and frustrated as I was, Finally he got a restaurant that picked up (they were closed).  But he asked the staff if he could recommend a good restaurant.  Hall's on the River was a gem of a tip.  If you're ever in that area, look them up.  They saved our vacation.  

All hyperbole aside, Cave Run Lake was quite pretty.  

Cave Run Lake

Cave Run Lake (That's D and Bobby)

see it?

We only actually spent like an hour there before our ill-fated idea to venture to Natural Monument.  

Nature, beautiful, wish you were here, etc.

Lesson learned. 

On our way back to Cincy the next day, we stopped at a winery near Lexington called Equus Run.  

Finally, after sipping and swishing, we sat outside on the shaded patio drinking our bottle of wine and listening to live music.  Dog was at our side, being fawned upon by folks at neighboring and practically spraining his tail in his wagging elation.  

The weather was gorgeous, the skies were blue.  The music was good, and everyone was in good spirits, myself included.   

nom

 It was quiet, and peaceful, and nowhere to rush to and nothing to worry about.  In that moment I was able to let go, disconnect, and relax.  

Finally.  

Luv-drunk Dog

 Relaxcation : Fail.  Success.

Good News, and News that Sucks

Yesterday I took off work to go to the doctor, which went well.  It’s good luck within bad luck really, because I think I like this practice and I’ll be sticking with them.   I used to accompany people to doctors visits all the time when I was a translator, and I’m well accustomed to the brusque office staff, interminable waiting periods, and chilly physicians.  But actually everyone was nice, and the office ran pretty smoothly.  Even the wait was probably less than ten minutes.  And later I emerged triumphant with a prescription for steroids for the mystery dermatitis caused by whatever it is that I’m allergic to.  And not a moment too soon! 

I also tried to change my name at the social security office so I could assume my married name.  That didn’t go so well, because I didn’t understand the documents I needed to have in order to submit the other documents.  But now I have all the puzzle pieces, I think, so I can put them together the next time I take a day off.  Which may be next month, when/if we pick up Bob. 

While I was home I got some unpacking and organizing done.  There’s really not much more, and it isn’t pertinent stuff.  It just has to be organized and out of the basement so we can have the contractor come in this week and do some work.  I went out to check on the still surviving plants (the jade, the astilbe, the parsley, and the tomato is barely hanging on, because its been attacked again) and the neighbor lady was out with one of her dogs, so I went to go say hello to them both. 

Turns out while we were wrapped up in the minutiae of our daily lives, and I was itchy and feeling sorry for myself, the woman who lives across the street from us was shot in Price Hill.  She’s a taxi driver (or was, she may find a new profession), and some people got in and asked for her money, and she gave it to them  but she had just started her shift.  They told her it wasn’t enough and they shot her in the face and in the shoulder. http://www.local12.com/news/local/story/Female-Cab-Driver-Shot-Twice-in-East-Price-Hill/g1g0imu8yEGcF9Jto2F-zA.cspx 

We haven’t introduced ourselves up and down the block.  We met some of the neighbors when one of the guys down the street saw us moving in, he came up and introduced himself and invited us to the picnic he was putting on for his family.  Some of the people on the block were there, and it was just really considerate and charitable.  We didn’t meet the woman at that time, but we have seen her around, and her kid plays in her front yard. 

I feel this urge, this ambivalent urge to go to her house and introduce ourselves, see if we can help her out at all.  Which is weird, because she doesn’t know us and we don’t know her.  And she's still in the hospital.  I'd probably overcompensate for awkwardness, act like a weirdo and just end up frightening her son.  Maybe I could get with some people in the neighborhood and we all pitch in and send her flowers at the hospital.  Or maybe that’s silly, because who cares about flowers when you've been shot in the face.  Maybe we can bring her and her family some… jello? 

I don't expect to get anything out of this.  Maybe they are all nice, sure, and this could be a nice neighborly beginning.  Hey, maybe she's a dick.  I don't know.  All I know is that this woman was out trying to earn her wage and somebody shoots her in the face just because she happens to be there.  Wrong place wrong time?  Or maybe it was premeditated and the gunman called up the cab service for the sole purpose of robbery.  Imagine how you feel at the end of an average day at work, only to have some douchebag shoot you in the face.  What if that doesn't even count as worker's comp?  It really sucks for her.  I’d like to, I don’t know.  Do something.  Do something for somebody who has recently endured suckage.   

Only I don’t know what to do.  What could I do?

So did I google it?  Yes.  Yes I did.

Unfortunately I got very inappropriate returns, like “sympathy for neighbor who has passed away,” or similar condolences.  I could just go and talk to the family, ask if they want to hear about some surgical references.  I could ask the surgeon who put the bone graft in my jaw.  Or is that insensitive and none of my business?  Maybe I should be anonymous. 

I must ponder this. 

In other news we may get to meet Murphy the dog tonight.  That's good news, I hope!  Fingers crossed for no scheduling conflicts.