Equilibrium

At the end of my post about our trip to Hawaii, I promised to post on how the universe has a way of making sure that for every “great” moment, there is an equal if not greater “oh no, I can’t believe that happened” moment.  I already mentioned that our laptop died somewhere over the Pacific, well in addition to that we had several other “oh no” moments to keep us laughing (which kept us from crying).

I will try to make this short, because who really wants to hear a bunch of complaints about a trip to Hawaii – really!  My husband suggested I name the post “Planes, Pains & Automobiles.”

To start with some inept travel agent (me) booked our departure flight for 6:15 a.m.!  If I ever was a morning person, Fibromyalgia has not so gracefully relieved me of that attribute.  Somehow both my husband’s and my alarm failed to go off that morning (yes we have dueling alarm clocks) and we literally woke up with enough time to brush our teeth and go.  Have you ever been on a 6+-hour flight with no shower to refresh you?  Not so fun.  Then the lovely people at United Airlines separated us, so the one person who could understand how funky I felt was not by my side.  I would have felt bad for the gentleman sitting next to me if he wasn’t so damn scary.  I did feel bad for his poor son, and for Rob who sat ahead of me next to a convulsive lady who read 10 newspapers and kept her butterfly elbows in Rob’s face the entire flight.

Upon arrival in Kona we find out that Hertz is literally sold out of rental cars, and even though we have a reservation, we will have to wait until the next day to pick up our car.  Okay, we can live with that.  A cab takes us to our condo, which is in walking distance to tons of great restaurants and shops.  We have a lovely evening and return the next day for our car – an adequate economy car, complete with air-conditioning, power steering, and COCKROACHES!  I didn’t know I could still move that fast.  Rob “handles” the problem and we are off (but there is really never just one is there?).

So we decided to go snorkeling because this is decidedly the most relaxing and enjoyable thing in the world!  The thing we have most been looking forward to outside the wedding.  We go to one of the most popular spots our first time out.  It is great!  The second I put my face in the water I am overwhelmed with the variety and beauty of the fish around us.  I even make a friend in a little puffer fish that circles me continuously, and I SWEAR, leads me to my first sea turtle sighting!  Things are great until Rob realizes his wedding band is missing.  He has snorkeled with it dozens of times and has a great technique to keep it on, but not this time.  We search the sandy bottom where we entered, but if it is there, it is impossible to find. 

This is the kind of thing that normally has me in knots, but somehow we are okay with it.  It feels right.  We were married in Hawaii almost 5 years to the day, and now we have given back – an offering to the island if you will.  It is such a beautiful and spiritual place and we are okay with giving back a small token of our love.  So things are looking up, and Rob goes out one more time by himself.  I watch him from the beach and it looks like he is having a great time.  When he finally decides to come in he is holding his flipper in front of his stomach.  I don’t think much of it, until he gets in front of me and shows me a gash from his left nipple, across his stomach and down to his waistband, and then I see the scrapes on his hands and knees.  He tries to tell me a sea turtle attached him, but it turns out he swam into a shallow area and a wave pushed him into the coral.  That’s gratitude for you.  What? Do you want my ring too?

Back on dry land the rest of the trip was great.  Our last night we drive 40 miles north to where most of the wedding party is staying and we have a great Thai dinner.  The final hurrah!  As we are driving back along the dark, dark road to our condo, something sleek and quick and black darts in front of our car.  “Did you see that?  Was that a cat?”  Sure enough, a cute little black kitty cat crossed our path.  Neither of us comments on the implications.

We fly out the next morning, and again United decides we do not need to sit together.  This time I am stuck next to a passenger who takes up her seat and some of mine.  She can not put the arm rest down, and being on the isle I am stuck either hanging part way into it and being bashed repeatedly by passengers and drink carts, or I can sit scrunched with my head and neck in a weird angle.  Neither works for someone with Fibromyalgia, or anyone for that matter.  I am miserable for over 5 hours, but too stubborn to say anything and really uncomfortable with the idea of embarrassing her. 

So that flight finally ends and we have just a short flight from L.A. to San Diego.  Yeah, we are so close, but no!  As we approach the gate to our second flight I hear the announcement, “Due to inclement weather, flight 56 to San Diego has been canceled.”  Inclement weather?  In San Diego?  Damn that black cat!

After hours of haggling (apparently United is not to be blamed for the weather) they finally agree to bus us the two hours to the San Diego airport.  Our driver is about as happy with the situation as we are.  He takes to the L.A. freeways at super sonic speeds, and Rob cheers him on.  We are making great time, but then…  Then we hit the thickest fog bank I have ever seen.  No joke.  You can barely see 5 feet in front of the bus.  Superman who was once driving at warp speed has found his kryptonite.  Cars fly pass us at 30 mph while he inches on, terrified.  He spastically flashes his lights between high and low beams, like he is sending out an SOS.  At one point I literally think he is going to just put it in park and break down crying.  And we passengers just sit there.  No one says a word.  He continues driving like that for the next 70 miles.  At one point I hear Rob suppressing a giggle.

We finally arrive at the San Diego airport at 1:30 a.m.  It is another 40 minutes drive to our house – in the fog.  The drive gives us a chance to laugh about everything that has happen.  We finally bring up the black cat and the thoughts we had that neither of us wanted to say out loud.  Turns out it doesn’t matter whether you say it out loud or not.  I vow not to let our pet sitter know we made it home until we are actually in the door of the house, even if it means I am texting her at 2:30 in the morning. 

So we made it home, safe and sound – minus a laptop, a wedding band, and a few layers of skin.  But all in all I handled things pretty well – at least that is what I thought.  And then the hives hit me.  From my eyelids to my toes, stress always finds a way of coming out.  Even when you try really hard to laugh it off!

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