"Welcome Home!"

...she said as I worked out in the yard the day we returned home from our month-long stay abroad.

"I want to hear all about it!  You were in Germany, right?

"Well, Harvey and I went to Germany and I'll tell you those drivers over there are crazy and THE ROADS!  Can you believe going over 100 mph on the autobahn, and no one seems to care.  Why, I had to tell Harvey several times to watch what he was doing.  I'm sure I saved our lives at least three or four times."

"Yes, we....." I began....

"How did you like the food?  I'll tell you, you can never be guaranteed what you are eating in a foreign country.  When Harvey and I went to Nairobi, I didn't dare ask what the meat was!  They eat anything and everything.  I basically just stuck to a yam dish; that seemed pretty safe.  Did you eat much strange food?"

"Wel......."

"And the water situation!  I'm sure you know what I mean.  Why, when we were in Spain, they NEVER served water with a meal.  We had to pay for a glass of water!  Finally, Harvey and I just decided to drink our own water before we went into any restaurant.  And, they've never heard of ICE!

"Now, where did you say you stayed?"

"We actually st....."

"Travel is so challenging...when we went to Bolivia the tour guide had us changing hotels EVERY night.  It got to be such a pain.  I just wanted to stay in one place and shoot out from there, but he had some reason why we had to keep moving on.  It got very irritating, for sure.

"Oh, did you get to see any churches or old cathedrals or old palaces?  When we went to Rome, I just got sick of seeing churches.  After awhile, they all looked the same.  So, one day, I told Harvey I was just staying home to read my book about a girl traveling abroad; it was funny.

"Oh my goodness, look at the time, Harvey will be wanting dinner; he's very old fashioned that way...six o'clock and he wants his dinner on the table so he can watch his nightly news.

"Thanks for telling me ALL about your trip.  It sounds absolutely WONDerful!"

Any time, CD, any time!

The Vacation Blues

I'm sick.

I've had a cough since March 31.

It just kept getting worse, then worse.

Now, I'm struggling to breathe.

Every time I cough, it hurts my insides.

AND, here we are for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Germany.

It's a bummer, I'll tell you that!