Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Reunions, Vacation and Depression........all in one post!

I had a little vacation the weekend of 10/12.  I drove to my high school reunion in S. CA.

I stayed in a hotel, by myself, no hubby, no kids, no pets.  It was near the beach and I had a very small view of the ocean.  I could see the waves breaking.  It was wonderful.  I drove down Friday and got to my hotel in the pm.  My friend Gwen, one of my high school besties, came to meet me and we talked while I got ready for the pm/evening mixer.  We decided we'd eat dinner first then head up to the mixer.  I'm glad we did that as I really didn't want to stop on the way down (friday LA traffic is not the best) so I ate a protein bar on the way, snacked a bit, and had had a bowl of cereal before I left.

To backtrack, Dave took some vacation time for that Friday and the next week as the girls had a week of 'fall' break.  So I was looking forward to my reunion and then going home for a week with Dave and the girls all home.

The mixer on Friday night was fun. I saw some friends I had not seen in over 20 years.  It was great, as well as good to see some of the friends I had been seeing when I came for visits (a bunch of us gals got together when I was there after my mom died and had a lot of fun). It's always interesting to see how people change or how they are the same.  To try and picture some people from your mind (or in Gwen's case, her yearbooks. She had the advantage of bringing them and then we would look people up if we didn't know who they were and she also looked them up the night of the reunion.  Once again I seemed to be getting ready to go, LOL.).  We left early and decided to head out to the outlets.  Now I do like to shop, but don't really have anyone who likes to shop here where I live, with me (although the girls like to, but that's a different experience, hehehehehe) and I usually go alone or just don't go.  But Gwen was in a shopping mood that weekend and took me to places I hadn't been in years.  The outlets are awesome and we laughed and talked and browsed. 

Gwen's husband and son were away on a weekend trip and her daughter had just had finals and wanted the house to herself (remember when you were a teen and you had the house to yourself??).  She had a series of books she was reading and wanted to read and watch the movies that were made from the books.  So I got to hang out with Gwen and we had the best time.

I had a hard time sleeping on my own and the quiet of my room, but my room was great and I enjoyed having my own little space for the weekend.

Gwen picked me up on Sat am for breakfast at a diner called The Breakfast Club.  Excellent food and conversation.  It lived up to it's name.  :-) 80's themes on the walls and cute sayings on the bathroom walls.

We then drove out to my mom's place.  It has not changed, the new owners (grandparents bought the place for their 20 yr old grandson) had not even changed the odd color my mom had painted her house.  It was bittersweet to drive by there.  I think it would have been hard to drive by it and see it changed.  We then drove by the antique 'village' where I have some of mom's stuff on consignment and I saw a couple of her pictures in the ladies bathroom.  That was a hoot. 

I got a chance to go to Nordstrom Rack for some different pants to wear to the reunion, but both of us felt it was really crowded and loud so we didn't stay very long. 

Gwen and I ended up at Panera (love Panera) Bread co. for lunch and stayed 3 hours talking.  Before we knew it it was time to go to the reunion.

We were pretty late, as we stopped at her place so she could change then to my hotel so I could change.  We got there an hour and a half late.  But we did stay till the end.  :-)  It was fun to catch up with people, and there were a few I had missed, as we just didn't get to talk. 




The last pic is the end of the evening, with Gwen and I and one of our high school friends.I will take these pics down but you can see we had a great time.  We stayed till the end and it was so much fun to see people after so many years.

The next day we planned to go to the beach, but didn't end up making it.  We were tired and we just didn't feel like trekking down to the beach. Gwen and her daughter went to their church and I got to stay in my pj's till 11am. I had bought some pastries at Panera so ate them with some coffee and lounged around till time to get ready.  Since we didn't go to the beach we decided we wanted to check out a 3 story Target in a mall and go to eat at a diner called "The Pit Stop."  We had a lot of fun and brought Gwen's daughter along.  Shopping with a teen gave me some insight to what it will be like when the girls are older.  It was fun and I got to go into stores I had not been into (as we don't have them here).  We dropped Gwen's daughter off and met my cousin for a short pit stop and then decided on a fishouse for dinner.  I ended up giving Gwen most of my plate for leftovers, but once again we closed the place down.  I packed for my drive the next day and was really happy to reach home on Monday.

Dave and the girls were happy to see me and we have had a great week (capping it off on Monday when Dave and I celebrated his earlier bday and went to lunch together).  Dave got sick with a kidney stone on Wed so was not feeling well for most of the week, so we didn't get to do some of the stuff we'd wanted to do.  We still need to go to a Pumpkin patch we got a Groupon for, and we wanted to go bowling. We did manage to take the girls to see Hotel Transylvania and go to dinner afterwards so that was a fun time for them. We watched some DVD's, they stayed in and played with toys, slept in till 7 and stayed up a bit late, so it was fun for them. 

I've been having a bit of depression, dealing with my mother's and cousin's deaths, so I was really having a hard time doing stuff in the house, not wanting to do laundry and waiting till I had a lot to do, not wanting to clean or cook.  I think I'm slowly turning the corner, but it's been a rough path.  I couldn't figure out what was wrong with me, I just seemed to want to sit and do a whole lot of nothing.  I still have days like that, but it's getting better.  I keep plugging along.  Maybe I needed a good break away. I really enjoyed it and actually wished I had more time away.  I think I could have used a whole week and been certainly the better for it.  I arrived home in time though as Dave got his kidney stone and was not feeling well.  Back to reality..........sometimes with special needs kids or kids with issues, you just need a break, you need to know you are a person too, outside of being mom and meeting all their needs.

I really enjoyed my time away and our vacation. I hope there is a next time for me to get away or get some time to myself.  It was sorely needed and lots of fun.  :-)  It helped me to come back with a fresh perspective, having had some much needed time to myself. I was able to handle the week the girls were at home and there were few arguments and fights.  Dave handled things well while I was gone and they had a good time with him.   So, wonder when the next time will be that I can go away on my own and where I should go................

3 comments:

  1. Glad you got some time away and that it was time to revisit your past. Grieving has it's own time table as I'm sure you've noticed by now. Some days I bet you just want it to be over, right hon? I'm so sorry Molly.

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  2. It was good to read your post, Molly. I'm sorry you've had a tough time of it, and as you know this grieving process is very long. Sounds like you're right where you're supposed to be.

    As far as where to go next time, well, how about coming east? ;-)

    Maggie

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  3. Yes, Leigh some days I do want it to be over. Some days I just want to call my mom, we were so close and I just miss her so much. But there are some good times, and getting away to see friends was definitely a good time for me. I enjoyed the time alone.

    And Maggie............some day I have to come east to meet all you wonderful women. I would totally love to do that. I guess just not in the eye of a hurricaine. Stay safe my East Coast friends.

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