 Photographic proof I was somewhere else by Liz Crocker. This is not Canada in February. Hello Dear Reader,
I have been away. Away in a tropical paradise. It sounds cliché to call it that, but it was tropical and felt like paradise (and that's not just the mai tais talking), so I'm sticking with that. I had planned to produce extra blogs before I left so you wouldn't miss me. But, if I had a GoPro attached to my head in the days leading up to this trip, you would be laughing now as hysterically as I am at that idea. There was just no way that was going to happen. But I'm back and feeling restored to full health. Not that I was sick, just every nerve was frayed and I needed a break. This is, I guess, why people vacation. Something I haven't done all that much. I don't consider family vacations, in which we visit more family, a vacation. (Sorry extended family in far away places, I love you, visiting is fun and heart warming, but not restful. You know what you're like). This trip was restful. I read books, I swam, snorkelled, hiked, played in the sand. It was even sometimes hard to read because of the scenery. I was reminded of an Irishman I met on a trip to Greece once, who said that Santorini was so beautiful, 'you can't read books". Then he illustrated what he meant. He'd start reading a line or two and then have to look up, stare at the ocean and sigh. The view kept interrupting his reading. It was just like that where I was. I even got to a previously unimaginable place about two days before we left: I felt a bit bored of swimming and lying around. I did! Can you believe that? When the idea struck me, I thought 'Well, Crocker, you've made it now. Have another mai tai'. I think this trip also played out my childhood fantasy of being restored like Clara in my favourite kid book Heidi by Johanna Spyri. I've always been a sucker for stories of redemption and restoration. As a kid, I re-read Heidi so many times I lost count. For some reason I was mesmerized how the sickly Clara was nursed back to health by the clean air of the Alps, Heidi's robust spirit and Grandfather's goat cheese. What grandfather's goat cheese was to Clara, the beaches of Maui were to me. Also, I saw my husband in a new and refreshing light. One day on this trip, I mistook him for a marine mammal. I think that's good for a marriage. This isn't a beached whale reference. No, I was swimming and glimpsed the end of a flipper further out at sea just submerging, about 50 metres away from me. Of course I scoured the horizon waiting for something to surface. Was it a seal? Do they have sea lions in Hawaii? It wasn't big enough to be a whale. What was that? And then up popped a snorkeler's head. There he was, the guy I'm married to. I didn't even know he was out there. It's also refreshing to lose track of someone who is usually underfoot or who you are trying to track down to complete various household tasks. Always good to see the people close to you from a new perspective. It's too bad he can't snorkel here. He's a happy snorkeler. As I am a happy warm ocean swimmer. (I love where I live, but Lord the water is cold here. You can only stay out so long in a wet suit after your ankles go numb.) One more thing before I leave you. I was browsing my blog on my phone while away and I noticed not only a slew of typos and punctuation errors, but on the mobile version, my full name, Elizabeth, is credited. I'm not sure why that is, but I will get to the bottom of both issues. I don't know why the errors were more visible in the mobile version. Perhaps I need to proof in that format. I apologize for the typos and punctuation. That is not OK. I will make myself a mai tai and spend an afternoon fixing things up. Probably, I should have the mai tai after. Don't fear. I'll do it in that order.
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