Vacation from Bedlam

I love the Inn on Broadway.

I'm feeling very guilty this morning. I slept last night in a soft, lovely, white, fluffy bed that was actually more than 4" off the floor (no air mattress here!) I was lulled to sleep by a fire (gas) in the fireplace and a cup of tea, leftover from my delicious room service (calimari & asparagus, plus a brownie) Perhaps guilty isn't the word - I don't really believe in feeling guilty for an extended period. Guilt should be like a fire alarm, compelling us to address a situation and move on.

Perhaps the way I'll address this is to get our fireplace in St. Paul up to working order? Right now it's just for show (which isn't a problem because with my breathing and Gerry's allergies a roaring fire is the last thing we need) but perhaps a nice gas fire would be a good thing? My Aunt Wanda used to have one, and I remember enjoying it immensely.

So I guess I don't feel entirely guilty that I have a carpet under my feet (ours left in the POD last week) and I'm looking forward to a nice breakfast at Starbucks before I teach two classes today. There's a VERY civilized 2 hour break before classes - something that doesn't happen much - and after my last class I'll be going to dinner with Lucinda.

Saint Lucinda, as she's known to me this morning, is the one who booked me into The Inn On Broadway (where I stayed last time I was in Rochester.) It's a lovely boutique hotel - much like The Ambassador where I stayed in Tulsa - and it's a level of luxury I don't feel on a regular basis. Just having a few hours away from the packing and loading is quite a luxury.

Before I left I made up all of the boxes left in the house and went over the different areas of the house with Gerry where there are piles of garbage and piles of stuff to be packed. The master plan is for Gerry to NOT lift or carry anything, to just pack stuff up, leave it to be taped and carried away (along with the garbage) by the 4 Strong Guys From Irvinton who will be coming on Tuesday.

I changed my Tuesday flight from 1:00 to 6:30, so I'll arrive home before the guys show up and will be able to give Gerry a bit of a break.

I'm also trying to arrange that all of the hotels we stay in along the way - along with being pet friendly - will also have a pool and hot tub. Usually Gerry wouldn't care about this, but when I mentioned it to him he said, "That sounds really appealing after a day of driving!"

Our route will take us through Pittsburgh and Columbus (instead of the more northerly Cleveland / Toledo route, which could be fraught with lake effect snow) and, as a gift, it looks as though the weather in St. Paul on the day that we arrive through the unloading of the PODS will be a temperate almost freezing. We may luck out!

Off to Kinkos to print out my handouts. I meant to print them at home, but with the packing and with life being upside down it just became an impossibility. So once again I depend on the slightly more-expensive-than-I'd-like Kinkos experience. Luckily it's right on the way to the Starbucks. My class will be upstairs, I wonder if we'll have a lovely carmel macchiato latte aroma rising from the cafe below.