First Trip Away

After four years of parenthood, T and I just enjoyed a first-time experience together this weekend: a trip without the kids.  What a rite of passage.  I feel like the luckiest woman in the world tonight.

I haven't mentioned it before, because I didn't think it would actually happen--even up to the last minute.
But in secret, I have been dying to go with T to San Diego since last fall, when we first considered the possibility of combining a 5-year anniversary trip with his conference schedule.

Ah, the AAOS.  You know if it's in town.  

Impossible logistic after impossible logistic seemed to stand in our way.   To make a long and overly-complicated story short and sweet,  I finally flew out to meet T in San Diego on Thursday for the remainder of his conference weekend.  When I stepped off the SuperShuttle into the hotel lobby late  Thursday night, I couldn't believe that I had actually made it.

The view from the hotel lobby the next morning was exquisite:

  A smitten couple and a beautiful city:  what fairy tales are made of.

T had already attended quite a bit of his conference before I arrived, but I still managed to be there for his presentation day, which of course made me burst with pride.

T presenting at the AAOS conference.  What a guy.  I proudly served as his personal paparazzi. 

When he was done, we headed out to Coronado Island for a late lunch at a fabulous, perfectly-priced cafe, Tent City,

a walk to the beach, 

On the beach after the conference.  Goodness, I love this man.

and tour of the famous Hotel Del Coronado.

On the steps of the Hotel Del.

Meanwhile, G-Bear and E-Bear were having a romping good time sleeping over with Grandmo and Papa.   Smothered with grandparent love and chocolate milk, Disney movies, brownies, & play places, G & E-Bear were blissfully unaware of the monumental parental-separation milestone that their parents were enduring.   Thankfully, we quickly realized what a great vacation the kids were having themselves, which meant that T and I were able to set aside our anxieties and really treasure our alone-time together.

Forty-eight hours alone with my best friend, who is also (all praise to Divine Graciousness) the love of my life and the amazing father of my children, was nothing shy of heavenly rejuvenation.  People, I can not overstate the fun we had.  Honestly, I could be shut in a TV box alone with T for 48 hours and I would probably love every minute of it, but we were in freaking San Diego!  Plus, on Friday, while T took a nap, I got to take a bath by myself.  You did indeed read that correctly.  I find motherhood is glorious in many respects, but bathroom privacy is more mythical in my life than the unicorn. Yet, this weekend I had an entire bathroom to myself for over 20 minutes, I took a bath, and I read a magazine.  Now that is a hat trick.

On Saturday our good friends drove all the way from L.A. to spend the afternoon with us.  Gosh, are we spoiled rotten now.  T & T were unstoppable as usual,

T&T at Neighborhood, where we grabbed a bite together.

while J and I lovingly rolled our eyes and enjoyed catching up.

J and I enjoy catching up.

Our trip did have a rather unexpected ending.  Late Saturday night, T got a phone call from the airline, informing him that our flight the next afternoon had been cancelled due to snow forecasts in MN.  Not sweet.  T had been rescheduled to fly out at 6:30AM instead, but the airline hadn't included me in the rescheduling.  After 4 hours on hold waiting for a representative (now it's 2AM), we were informed that the soonest I could be guaranteed to fly out of San Diego was Monday night, arriving into MN on Tuesday morning.   So, instead of enjoying a leisurely Sunday morning at our hotel, we were headed to the airport at 4AM on our rescheduled SuperShuttle.  After unsuccessfully fighting back tears for 2 hours, waiting at the gate to see if I could fly standby on T's new flight, I nearly collapsed with thanks and relief when the attendant handed me a boarding pass and said I could board the plane home.  I have never been so happy to land at the MSP airport.....thank you, Jesus.

We're off to church in the snow!

Yet, all's well that ends well.  We have spent the day as a reunited family, sharing stories from our weekend, napping and watching the snow fall behind our cozy window.  Tonight we trudged home from evening church on foot through the snow piles, because there was too much snow to drive our car. I couldn't help but think of being on the beach with T the day before.   Yet, the best part is being home together.