One of the best things about living in the southern part of New Jersey is that we can fill up the gas tank, hit the road and be in my home town of Philadelphia in 30 minutes, at the beaches and casinos of the Jersey shore in 60 minutes, in New York City in 90 minutes, and in our nation's capital in three hours.
However, when it came to planning a Valentine's weekend getaway, my husband Bob and I were stumped. We had the choice of all of the great places listed above...but we've been to every single one of them, over and over and over again.
We wanted to escape the cold and mundane that had defined our winter. We wanted something new. Something different. Something romantic. Something fun. Something within a few hours drive from home.
The weekend held an extra incentive for us to get away. Our 17-year old daughter Melissa would be boarding a plane to Atlanta for a leadership conference sponsored by the B'nai B'rith Youth Organization (BBYO). We could pack our bags in search of adventure without having to worry about leaving her home alone.
But where to go? Where to go?
Bob, an American history buff, had long sought to take a vacation visiting civil war battles sites (yawn). But this time, unless we wanted to brave arctic tempertures, touring historic outdoor battlefields would have to wait until the warmer months.
So where to go, where to go?
A quick google search revealed an indoor civil war museum about two hours away in Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania (yawn). Not romantic. Not really fun. But it did count as something different, within a few hours drive from home. We booked a hotel near the museum, made dinner reservations, and looked forward to a getaway, no matter how potentially boring it might be.
Come Valentine's morning, I jumped out of bed in preparation for our mini "vacation". An hour later, with my hair curled to perfection and my suitcase packed, I gently encouraged my sleepy honey to rise from his slumber. He sat up, put his feet on the floor, and attempted to lift his body into a standing position, only to fall back onto the bed.
He tried to stand up once more, only to have the same thing happen again.
"I feel dizzy and nauseous," he said in response to my look of concern.
"Give it a few minutes," I replied. "Maybe you're just groggy."
My advice proved useless, as an attempt to walk across the bedroom nearly caused him to fall flat on his face.
I made him some toast, hoping beyond hope it would be the miracle he needed to get past the nausea and start packing for our trip.
"Lisa, I am really sorry but there is no way I can go away feeling like this," he said.
"It's ok," I lied, trying to hide my disappointment. "We can go another time."
Sigh.
One of the best hair days I ever had would be wasted on another cold, mundane weekend at home.
I changed out of my "going away" outfit, put on comfy sweats, then poured myself a bowl of cereal while Bob tried to sleep off his sickness.
An entire day with no plans stretched out before me.
A Valentine's Day with no plans.
What to do? What to do?
I decided to use the gift of unexpected time to work on a scrapbook I was making for a friend's birthday. As I dove into the ardous task of scouring through 2,479 photo albums, the realization hit me. Here I was, sitting on the living room floor, knee deep in photos, while my poor husband lay upstairs in bed, sick as a dog.
Ok, so we wouldn't be spending Valentine's Day learning about the Civil War. We wouldn't be going to the hotel, or eating at a great restaurant. But certainly, we could still be together!
I picked up as many photo albums as I could carry, heaved them upstairs to my bedroom, and plopped down next to Bob. Together, we looked at picture after picture, the images taking us back to first days of school, vacations, holidays, and birthdays.
As the hours passed by, we watched TV. We laughed. We cuddled. We hugged.
And slowly but surely, he started to feel better.
By the end of the day, I no longer longed to get away.
By the end of the day, life no longer seemed quite so mundane.
I had the love of my life, right next to me in bed.
It was a Valentine's Day like no other.
It was the best Valentine's ever!
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| My Bob...the best Valentine ever! |
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