The Po Show

Back in the Saddle

I'm back, at least physically. Mentally, I'm in that odd limbo state that I inhabit while I'm transitioning from CA to NY or NY to CA. I'm a little sad, a little relieved, a little unsettled, and a lot tired.

We got back at 7:00AM on Sat., after a red eye that took a lot out of me. The kids both slept, extremely fitfully, on each side of me, leaning and pushing and squeezing me into painful and unnatural contortions. We had to drive our friend home (he was kind enough to pick us up in our own car) and then drive home ourselves. The kids were perky-ish, having slept; Ross and were not, having not. The kids didn't want to eat anything, so Ross pulled me into the bedroom, not for nooky, but for a nap. After an hour, Tessa came into the room, cleared her throat, and announced that now she wanted breakfast. The rest of the day was a haze.

All in all, it was a great trip. Tessa was sick on and off the entire time, starting with a 102 fever on Christmas Day. She kept rallying, because when it comes to parties, she's a professional, but then she'd feel poorly again. Deb, it's actually really good that she didn't come over to your place for the sleep over, since she woke up the next morning with a fever again. I hope she didn't infect anyone!

Matthew was intermittently anxious and angst-y, and he was a little surly with people who tried to talk to him at parties, but he loved being there. He was so sad when it was time to leave. He ate well, as usual, as Grandma reintroduced him to fried eggs. Then on our last morning there, he was running around and banged his toe on the corner of the couch, splitting open the cuticle and pushing the nail back. It was *nasty* and still really hurts. He had to wear flip flops home on the plane.

Ross and I had a wonderful time on our "date" to L.A., staying at the fabulous Sofitel Hotel (it actually wasn't as fabulous as I'd hoped, and I would have been pissed if we were paying the usual rate of $325 a night). We ate chili dogs at Pinks for the first time in 15 years. We walked around campus at UCLA on a perfectly gorgeous afternoon. We had a truly remarkable dinner at Lucques, which was in walking distance of the hotel, and saw two movies, which was as many movies as we'd seen in the last 3 years. It was so nice.

All the parties and all the visiting with beloved family and friends was lovely, though much too short, of course. I felt so warm and loved and happy. I wish there was a way of bottling that feeling, to be opened and relived when I'm here and alone and sad.

But there's no time to stay in limbo, as Ross has his knee surgery tomorrow, and I get to play nursemaid. Maybe I'll even get to play the kind of nursemaid that Glenn Close did in "The World According to Garp."