Neuvo Vallarta | April 15 | Day Two

I woke before the sun did and remembered that I hadn't plugged my phone in the night before. This is a sure sign that I'm still on North American time. Why I would I possibly need a phone today? Who am I going to call. It usually takes a few days for this to pass. Eventually, my phone ends up in the safe, where it belongs.


(click on photo to enlarge)

As I was already awake, I decided to not go back to bed and get started on my vacation. That might sound counterproductive, but my idea of a good vacation involves lying in the sun, reading books, writing in my journal and at least twice a day (early morning and late afternoon), writing on my laptop. I've also brought my camera and plan to take a lot of pictures, but for the first few days here, we don't have a lot of plans.

I ordered coffee, bagels and orange juice from room service and Jane got up long enough to join me on the veranda for coffee and a bagel smothered with salmon, capers, red onion and cream cheese. She claimed everything about it was wonderful except the bagel, which she described as white bread in the shape of a bagel. Maybe we should have ordered a tortilla instead.

The sun is beginning to peek out from behind the hotel and bathe the pool in sunlight. Jane is back in bed, fast asleep. She claimed that she slept straight through the night and that it was the first time since 1982. She needs this vacation probably even more than I do.

Easter weekend, the weekend before we left, was a little stressful. On Thursday, our septic system shit the bed. On Friday, I made the executive decision to go ahead and replace more or less all the plumbing under the house and arranged for a new septic system to be installed while we're gone. Now you have to understand that Jane freaks out about who's going to clean out the cat's litter box if we go away for the weekend, so leaving our children for ten days while our plumbing is in question tends to put her over the edge. According to her, she was seriously trying to think of every way possible to cancel the vacation. On top of which she's worried about Ricky, who is home with the girls and who has struggled with school this past year. He's actually doing pretty good, but the idea that she can't be home while she worries, instead of away while she worries, is hard on her. It doesn't matter that she has no control either way. What can I say, she's a worrier.

Not anymore. We both know this about her. Once I get her on the plane, she's generally okay. Once she reaches our destination, she says she's never going home. Ricky, who? What house? Who needs plumbing? She told me as she climbed back in bed, "I'm never leaving. Just send the checks here."

Well, the beach chairs are beginning to fill up, so I think it's time to go wake Jane up and go lay in the sun. It might even be time for a cocktail. Who knows?

It's a day full of possibilities.