2:37 p.m. - 2003-01-01
Christmas: Part 1
The inevitable time is here when I must record the obligatory "What I did for my Christmas Holiday" entry so that I can go forward with the rest of my life. The problem is, it's all a blur, and it's fast becoming a non-important blur. I'll try to pick out some of the more focused highlights. You know, the things I might want to remember in 50 years. If I make it to be 93 years old that is.
Yeah, I can just imagine myself talking to my great-nieces and nephews: "When I was your age I was traveling with those two rabbits an' your Uncle Bruce up and down the East Coast! Yup, we took them buns everywhere!"
We did take the buns, too. I had this weird intuition that Mirage's abcess would flair up and our pet sitter is hopeless about flushing it out, or even giving Mirage her eyedrops and medication, so Loki and Miss Bunny had an Excellent Adventure. They seemed to be perfectly happy hurtling down the highway at 70 mph, riding in the back of the Toyota in their cage. I swear at times they were looking out the window. When we stopped they would stay in whatever bathroom was around. Bathrooms make good bunny accomodations. Hard flooring and no electrical cords, nothing that rabbit teeth can mess with.
200 Motels? How about 200 Bathrooms?
*********************************************
Hurtling down the highway pretty much describes the first day, too. A just ridiculously long 13 hour day. You know, all these long trips are the same after awhile - the same truckstops, the same snaggletoothed rednecks in Viagra/NASCAR jackets, the same red stenciled "Jesus is Coming" signs tacked to trees along the roadside.
We finally, finally got to Bruce's father's house in Baltimore at midnight and spent the next day there. The only thing I want to remember going to see is the Christmas lights on 34th Street. Every year the residents of 34th Street compete to see who can put the most Christmas decorations in the most bizarre combinations on their houses. The street looks like Las Vegas after the Apocalypse. I love it.
We went there after having dinner at a very sniffy, upscale restaurant owned by the brother of Mohammed Karzai, the Prime Minister of Afghanistan. I was expecting something with a little atmosphere, but I guess upscale kind of implies sterility, doesn't it? The food was great though. I had leek dumplings and something with raspberry sauce for dessert.
**********************************************
Another ridiculously long ride and a stay in a motel the next day finally brought us to New Hampshire. Since we had the rabbits we couldn't stay with my parents. They have an Akita who really "likes" small animals, if you know what I mean, so we stayed at my sister Vickie's accounting office. Yup, we set up an aero bed in front of her desk and camped out. As you can guess, she's kind of a lackadaisical accountant. My other sister, Gail, lives in an apartment over the office so it still felt like we were surrounded by family.
************************************************
Sunday before Christmas was the "Let's Try To See Every Friend We Have In Boston In The Space Of Ten Hours" day. We drove into Harvard Square early in the morning and I had the same feeling that I get when I look at some of my old vintage clothes. The Boston area is like a pretty old dress that doesn't fit anymore, but I have such nice memories of when it did. Sigh. You can't go home again, but you can spend an eternity remembering what home was like.
Parked the car and walked up to Au Bon Pain. Bent over one of the tables was a familiar character with a flowing mustache, the signature leather hat next to his cup of coffee. I had the most bizarre sensation when I saw Seth like this - it can only be described as relief that he was still alive and happy and Seth-like and he hadn't changed into a pea-green religious zealot or something. Actually he looked very healthy. Dare I say he looked glowing? Perhaps I'm just used to seeing him at dark, skanky parties and not in the light of day.
As I was hugging the life out of him and trying not to get sappy one of the waitpeople came over to us. I'm sorry to say she had "Happy Nutcase" written all over her. "Let's have one for you and you!" she churbled, pointing to Bruce and Seth. "Give me a B! Give me an O! Give me a Y! Give me an S!! What do you get?! BOYS! BOYS! BOYS!!!!!"
So strangely appropriate. We sat down, cringing, and had a long ranging conversation about putting together websites, nudibranch identification, Darwin, etc, etc. At one one point I mentioned that we had brought the bunnies.
Seth stared at me, slack-jawed, his eyes squinted up in disbelief. "You...you brought the bunnies?" he finally blurted out. "What on earth possessed you to bring the bunnies?"
I think this is the first time I've ever really seen Seth speechless. Ah, Seth, you're so cute when you're dumbstruck! I mumbled something about Mirage's abcess and flushing out ...things... and Loki being lonely.. and ... you know, cute bunnies...ummm. Humm. Hard to explain. Hmffff. It was obvious that I had provided one more piece of evidence to solidify Seth's opinion that I am a harmless and entertaining fruitcake.
**************************************
Ah, I'm written out, and speaking of bunnies, I hear a distressing chewing/ripping noise. I think they are Destroying Something. Back Later!!
****************************************************
0 comments
