Losing a part of me

Today is the day! I picked Leslie up from the airport last night, and it was so wonderful to have her here. I have had a bit of a stomach issue since yesterday afternoon, but that will not dampen our visit, nor will it interfere with our vacation. We are leaving the house in about 2 hours to drive to the airport, and once we are parked at the airport, as far as I am concerned, we are on vacation. YAY!!!

I didn’t eat badly yesterday, but as I mentioned, my stomach has been a bit touchy. That is weird for me – my stomach does not have issues. I can imagine if I had eaten something ridiculous, but I did not. I will just take it easy for a couple of days and I know I will be fine. There was nothing out of the ordinary bowel-wise… neither excessive nor a shortage. Okay, I guess sometimes mere mortals will have stomach issues… and as I am a syllable from turning fifty, I should recognize that I am that.

There are few pampering pleasures that are exclusively for men, but there is no question that a hot towel shave is just that. This morning, one year and two days after I said goodbye to my father, Leslie and I drove to the Village Cigar Company and Barbershop in Burlington, and before I sat in Barney’s chair, she took a moment to say goodbye to my full beard. I kept the goatee, but to quote my friend Emily (who commented on Facebook): “You no longer look like a homeless person.” I suspect I lost another pound by the time it was over, which would have been over and above the 1.8 lbs that I was down this morning from yesterday. I will hope to not gain too much weight in Cuba, but vacations can be tough, so I suppose I hope to not gain more than five pounds in Cuba.

It is a beautiful day out, and I am wearing short sleeves. Leslie is wearing shorts, and I might just change into a pair before we go to the airport. It might drop below 25°C in Cuba… but it is unlikely. I have some packing left to do, but not much. Leslie is taking a nap in the bedroom, and I do not want to disturb her, but in a few minutes, I will go out to pick up lunch for us, and I will wake her for that… and then I will finish packing and we can hit the road. If we were not returning at 2:30am next week, I would arrange for alternate transportation to the airport. No thank you, I will happily pay the parking for the convenience of getting our luggage and walking right to our car.

Have a great day folks! I have left placeholders for the next week, but hope to be able to blog every day anyways.