Aggghhhhh! You can't leave us! We are too needy for your affections and your jokes and your suggestions. I hope you have a good time, I am incredibly jealous, wishing I were on this trip with my H. So, I guess this is inspriational!
Hi folks! I’m back from Chile and had a WONderful time. I can’t describe all the amazing and astonishing scenery I saw. We did a lot of hiking and camping, as well as pampering ourselves at hot springs resorts and at little bungalows on the beach. The last week was in Patagonia in an incredible national park, where we hiked a four-day circuit (about 7-8 hours a day of hard hiking with all our gear – whew!) and saw the most awe-inspiring mountains, glaciers, and wildlife (pink flamingoes, guanacos, and crazy-looking ducks).
S. and I got along mostly OK, with a few fights here and there and some rough spots. Otherwise, we reveled in and were awed by the scenery and generally agreed on what we wanted to do and how we wanted to do it, which was a relief to me, a free-spirited and intrepid traveler, because S. is cautious and an inveterate planner. We had some lovely romantic moments as well.
On the other hand, I found myself on numerous occasions thinking I had to end things when I got home, or at least take a break from the R to sort things through in my own head. The real doozy was when S. said to me, after a really nice dinner and when we had both been feeling particularly close for a few days, “I want to start ordering seeds for the garden when we get back.” and I said, excitedly and cheerfully, “OH! I can’t wait to start gardening! Are you going to do that with me?” and he said “[PAUSE] maybe.” and I, completely crestfallen and a bit stunned, said “What do you mean, maybe?” and he said, and I quote verbatim, “This is something that brings me an enormous amount of pleasure, and I want to keep at least some of it for myself.”
This after we planted the garden very happily and joyfully together in Vermont last year, and really enjoyed the fruits of our labor, and his knowing how much I love gardening and that I don’t have my own space to garden in at the moment. I was really stunned. I didn’t say much else, but I went on a diatribe in my notebook about what a selfish bastard he is and how I couldn’t believe he would say something like that to me. After which, I know, he opened my notebook and read it while I was in the shower.
But that was two weeks ago, and we got home last week. I have been catching up from having been away so long, and now I feel almost ready to face the world again…He has been making plans with me every day since we got back, I sense fearing I’m going to dump him or something. Today we went to see the Gates at Central Park. It was a really nice day, and we were good companions.
One things I got out of our trip and all the times I thought to myself “I have to get out of this R,” is MUCH more detachment. Now I don’t really get that upset about things, and I can walk away rather than freak out when he does something bonehead-y like the gardening comment. It’s freeing, really. And for some reason, it’s not even all that difficult. Wish we’d gone on this trip sooner!
OK, guys, thanks for all the misses while I was away and I’ll be stopping by soon. I’ve been lurking around this last week, just trying to catch up on the reading, and everyone sounds just fine! I’m really glad no one has found much use for the pukey icon while I was away. Just for ha-has, I’ll use it here
We'll see you when you get back!
Hurry on back. 
~~*
And, yes, the pukey-i was worth a chuckle!
Slowly