Sig Other and I never took a honeymoon. Its not that we didn’t want to. But life takes over (or as Best Friend B says, “Man plans and God laughs”) and we just never found the time. We’ve tried a few times to take a couples vacation, but just haven’t been able to swing it. There was the time we planned a romantic trip for two to Rome. But then Child One asked to come along. And when your teenage daughter ASKS to spend time with you, “No” is a thought that never enters your head. But the summer has been a long one and time off scarce, so I finally managed to plan a few days off, alone with Sig Other on a weekend when the children were scheduled to be with BioMom.
Cut to Fancy Adult Camp – a luxurious, adults only resort high on an idyllic cliff top overlook fog (er, um, I mean spectacular ocean – somewhere down there). Fancy Adult Camp is a no car zone. Guests go from room to spa to dining area to meditation pond via a meandering road shaded by canopies of cedar and redwood trees. Fancy Adult Camp smells good. And when you check in to Fancy Adult Camp, they give you one key.
The one key thing didn’t really occur to me as I breathed in the clean Pacific air. It didn’t occur to me as I marveled at the blissful view and listened to the sound of utter relaxation. The one key thing didn’t really strike me until about twenty minutes after settling in, when I wanted to go one way and Sig Other wanted to go another.
One key assumes you and your partner will be spending all your time together. One key assumes you book side-by-side activities and presupposes a sort of 100% romantic symbiosis that I hadn’t planned. One key does NOT assume that you will want to go to the pool while your Sig Other naps, it does NOT assume that you will want to hike around the property while your Sig Other downloads a document from the one corner of the hotel with decent Wi-Fi. It does not assume any alone time factored into romantic couple time.
The one key policy made me realize I may not be so good at this whole relaxing vacation thing. Padding down the path alone to the meditation tub in my green robe and fuzzy slippers, I felt a little self-conscious. It felt somehow wrong to be solo on a path in a couple’s retreat headed to the meditation pool. I realized I wouldn’t be doing any meditating. I would be reading. On my iPad. A lot. Sort of the opposite of meditating really. I wasn't looking inward at all. I was planning to look outward. A great deal.
But then I got to the meditation tub and saw there was only one other person there. Another woman. Alone. No Sig Other in sight. And she was reading TATLER. I felt better and settled in for a read, a lot less worried about the napping Sig Other and our one key.
2 comments:
Isn't it funny how forced relaxation ends up being not quite as relaxing? I hope that the fog lifted and that you managed to see the Pacific Ocean. It's just so damn beautiful up there.
And I am thrilled you took a few days off; so well-deserved.
Love,
Miss W
My parents didn't go on a honeymoon either. When I was a freshman in college they finally booked a vacation on Hawaii. I asked if I could go but they told me I was out of my mind for even asking. Ha! Your vacation sounded lovely. Well, minus the forced relaxation.
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