Surprise Weekend Getaway

Dear Lovely People,

I appreciate your gracious patience. In the past five days I've been in the process of transitioning back to work, and semester grades were due last night, and 4 of my 5 classes are AP seniors, so, well -- do I really need to say anything more? If I do, you're one of those people under the illusion that all teachers are done at 3:30 and have summers off.

Wait. I'm still laughing. Hold on.  

Arhghh. Okay. Done.

Woops. Nope ------

Okay. 

You probably heard about the excitement: Cam and I left dialysis early Saturday evening for a spontaneous retreat to the UCLA Medical Center. Though it wasn't a scheduled trip, we've found the concierges at each hub of this destination to be pleasant. The excellent tour guides are warm and truly, carefully thoughtful in planning our itinerary each day. It's clear that they are considering Cam's best interests and --

Ah, man! This, this  . . . thing . . . my arm, pokey . . . look down . . . It's. A. Knob. A knob, I tell you! You know, like the kind that makes a reclining chair RECLINE! A knob of such kind as I was looking for at 3am after I'd finished every tot and tittle of grades so that first-semester, "I have to get into a good college!" dear-hearted high school seniors wouldn't panic by any stone unturned. A knob that I searched high and low for in the dark. Bleary eyed. Cross-eyed. Knob, you vile, hiding knob. The cricks in my neck and back and calves curse you for being on the inside instead of the outside of the recliner where the lever for the foot-elevation is. That settles it. I'm giving myself a present. I'm going back to the gift shop here at the resort and buying that geniusly titled book, You'd Better Not Die or I'll Kill You: A Caregiver's Survival Guide to Keeping You in Good Health and Good Spirits by Jane Heller. For sure Ms. Heller could have told me to plant in my sleepy subconscious the need to feel around the outside AND THE INSIDE of reclining chairs for accessing their reclining function at resorts like this. Wah, wah, wah. Somebody call the wahmbulance.

And if you can spot the teeny, tiny homage to Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream in that rant, do message me. It would be delightful to hear that someone found it.

So, being walk-ins without an appointment, we had to settle for accommodations in the Suite Emergencia of the resort, which is apparently much less desirable than the rest -- we don't actually know because we haven't yet caught a glimpse of the general resort rooms -- but we were fortunate that a quick get-to-know-you of charming Cam at check-in was all it took to be given a room almost immediately, despite the fact that the resort, including the Suite Emergencia, was over-booked. Cam is so grateful to all those who provide service -- always -- that he kept remarking over and over again how grateful he was to have a room with a door while so many other travelers were waiting hours and whole days and nights in the extraordinarily bright, noisy, frequently chaotic hallways just outside our room.

Intent on finding him better accommodations, last night the staff moved Cam to Gonda a la Observation Suite next door to the ER suite. Still not part of the main resort, and with a glass door that doesn't fully close, it's none the less positively tranquil here. Not a single traveler in the hall complaining. We're quite content. In fact, unlike our accommodations at the resort in Winston-Salem recently, there aren't even tour guides marching up and down halls. Just quiet concierges at a large island of desks outside our room, and the occasional visit from one of Cam's trip planners.

Interruption. "Code Gray, Code Gray. Ronald Regan UCLA Medical Center, 7 East."
Pardon me, I just had to include that because a calm, 20-something male voice has been cooing it over the resort loud speaker every thirty seconds for the past five minutes and it was appearing in front of my eyes anyway. It must mean that a very important party is going to happen soon and all the resort staff have to prepare. 

Our trip planners have all agreed that it's best that our visit ends this afternoon. Don't be sad for us; though they're so, so lovely here, we're actually quite ready to go home and are looking forward to it immensely.

Cam continues to be the ideal travel companion. Every destination is a pleasure that he receives gratefully, and I am learning from him all about how to be a thoughtful, informed traveler myself. Even when he's weary from traveling or he has a touch of this or that traveler's sickness, he still finds something cheerful about each unfavorable circumstance, or he'll remark how so many travelers have much less joyful journeys and that he is so, so fortunate during his trip. 

Your friend,

Krish