I'm Back...

Kristiana and I returned from Orlando earlier today.
Steve and Daniel will return tomorrow.
No problems with the return flight - except that I felt naked without my hand cream, lip gloss, and anti-bacterial gel.

I have so many stories to tell and life-lessons to report on.

Let me drop a hint with this tid-bit: after all my ranting about waste and excessiveness, I received a phone call from a neighbor last night (while we were still in Florida) saying that our sprinkler system had gone haywire and that five sprinkler heads were spraying water NON-STOP and had been for hours and hours.

What, Lord? Why me? You know that nobody on the planet (well, at least in my neighborhood!) wastes less water than I do. Why would our system go nuts when we are not there to fix it?

Fortunately, the fantastic people who have done a fantastic job on our front yard came to our house late last night, groped around in the dark, and managed to turn off the water from the street. There was no running water in the house overnight. It's a good thing we didn't need to wash our hands or flush the toilet in the meantime. I'll write more about the water issue, its resolution, and a great lesson I learned as a result very soon.

I've gotta go walk Maya now... who did great while we were gone. The daughter of the neighbor who called me last night is the one who took care of her for us. There has been one small regression on Maya's part: she has taken to peeing in her crate again. Gotta break her of that habit - and fast.

Plus one of our car tires went flat while we were gone; fortunately, the car was in the garage at the time. The couple that works on our lawn came back this morning to "put a band-aid" on the hemorrhaging sprinkler system wound until the folks who installed the system can get here on Monday, and while Marlon and Alexandra were here, their car battery went dead. What have I done to deserve all this flak in one day?

Who am I kidding? These problems are all due to an abundance of blessings - and dare I say it? "excessiveness" - on our part: a family vacation (although I could write reams on the excessiveness, the tackiness, and the ridiculous costliness of Orlando, Florida, especially Disney)... having more than one car... the two very kind and respectful young men who came to replace the flat tire... not having to pay for that service due to the service agreement that came with the car... a lawn to water... an irrigation system...a front yard that is being pampered... neighbors who cared enough to call us... friends who cared enough to come to our house in our absence to look after this problem. All in all, I have no real reason to complain at all. Life is good. God is good. We are all healthy. We are happy. Our travels went well, without any significant difficulties whatsoever.

A few more highlights: The convertible Mustang rental car combined with the too-soft bed and pillows to give me a few backaches early in the week. My wonderful husband rubbed my back several times and then voluntarily made the ultimate sacrifice: He drove us back to the airport on Wednesday night to trade the Mustang in for a Sienna minivan. I never even thought of asking him to trade the car; it was all his idea. Now that's a man to hold on to.

My decision to go off caffeine for a week resulted in some serious headaches. I missed my coffee and my yerba mate tea a lot! It was a rough start to our vacation.

I'm not a pill-popper - mostly because I am almost never sick, nor do I suffer with headaches, PMS, heartburn, or anything else I can think of. Apart from the annual mammogram panic, I'm a very healthy person - for which I give many thanks to God. What was my point? Oh yeah... I take my proverbial hat off to Rapid Release Tylenol caplets. They got me back in working order in two days. Six pills over a 24-hour period, and I was good to go.

Having said all that, I am back to my morning coffee ritual - I enjoyed a dark, sweet and strong cortadito - it's a Cuban coffee concoction- at the Orlando airport this morning; yum!

In any case, I'm back.
Maya needs a walk.
Her crate pads need to go into the dryer - after a thorough washing!

It's good to be home.
Very good.

Did anybody else see that unbelieveably gorgeous full moon this week?