Onset of Reality

Cancun is only a week ago and it seems so very far away already. It was awesome, folks. We've never taken a vacation before that did not involve staying at a house of a friend or relative. We've never traveled (together) outside the contiguous 48. We've never before stayed at an all inclusive resort where your every need is met with a smile, you're fed, liquored, entertained and bedded while the exotic birds chirp, lizards scamper, waves crash and the sun toasts you ever so lightly. ...sigh...

Once more for time for those in the back row: it was awesome. It was more sun in a week than I've seen for the past six months. It was more heat in a week than I've experienced in the last three years. It was more fresh fruit in a week than my digestive system knew how to handle. Odd, isn't it, that I could pace myself with respect to alcohol but not fresh fruit?

The resort had a pool system, a vast array of swimming holes that may or may not have been connected to one another, but all of which had access to at least one swim up bar. One of these pools had a large area for water volleyball and trite games like Simon Says or water aerobics. We did not visit that pool but we could hear the daily festivities from our deck chairs. One day, on my way to the loo, I happened to see bikini-clad women scampering across the pool deck kissing strange men (read: men not known to them) while being trailed by a handler ... er, another gent who was counting planted pecks, I suppose. I'm glad it was a large pool and I was nowhere near these events. Yes, we staked out terrain that had both sun and shade, had easy access to the water, and was both on the main path of the circling waitresses and directly across from the swim up bar. All my needs for the day were met: sun, water, and libations, deliverable and fetchable. When I felt a little hunger creeping up, I wandered to the deckside grill or a little further to one of many restaurants.

That was how I told time: what beverage am I holding and what meal is this? If the liquid is coffee, it must be morning and this fruit must be breakfast. If the liquid is beer, it must be around noon and this fruit must be lunch and it requires a side of meat. Of course, if this liquid is beer and I am no longer in my swimsuit, then this fruit must be the side dish and that pile of meat and veggies must be dinner so it is evening. If the liquid is beer and I am lying in bed, it must be nighttime. It was quite the system and I have no tan lines from using this particular watch.

It was decadent and well-deserved. I started the quarter refreshed and recharged and not worn down from the previous quarter (which was my condition the day the travels started). It was exactly what a vacation should be: something that does not take place here and is a break from any routine. And it had sun and beer. I'm already looking forward to the next time.