Comings and Goings

I'm simply too damn lazy to have a good time. This is a handicap, since I often complain about the lack of available good times here in Maine. But just now I had a eureka moment, and perhaps all will be well from now on.

What happened was I read an article in today's Wall Street Journal about a family, consisting of a mom and dad and two kids, who took a "gap year" from work and school and spent it traveling to 11 different countries. I just skimmed it but still I caught the word Cambodia, so we know they went far afield. Just thinking about their trip made me slightly nauseous.

Imagine: The packing, the unpacking, the laundry, the eating of strange foods, the sleeping in strange beds, if there are beds at all. The bugs, the weather. The bathrooms! The no toilet paper! The stomach aches, the headaches, the lack of one's own comfy bed and favorite pillow, for a whole year! Then there's the flying, the making of reservations, the catching of trains, the indignities of buses, the terror of taxis and perhaps even rickshaws for all I know.

This weekend my husband and I are going to Manhattan. I am bracing myself for the subways, crowded streets, blaring sirens and bad smells. The hundreds of bright yellow taxis jockeying for position before stopping dead in traffic as far as the eye can see. There will also be good food and good conversation with the friends we are meeting there, and at least a few hours sitting down inside a Broadway theater that will trigger warm feelings of nostalgia from my childhood. We'll try to see some sights, like that hole in the ground filled with water where the Twin Towers once stood. And maybe pop into the Met for a quick look at some classics.

At the very least I will enjoy one real bagel with everything and a slice of dynamite pizza. Then I will go home, happy I went but happier to leave. So I'd better stop complaining about Maine being dull and just enjoy the peace and quiet. (I wish my Muse would get back from her gap year already.)