RonVitale

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The Get Away

Every once in a while, we all need to unplug and get away. On Christmas my mother-in-law surprised my wife and I with a gift certificate to the Woolverton Inn. Winter has almost come and gone and we finally had a chance to get a night away. I've been sick off and on since January--I'm still on antibiotics. On top of all this, my wife, daughter and I are all getting over a nasty cold that really hit us hard. The coughing alone has caused both my wife and I to just feel exhausted at the end of the day. Having made the best of plans to go away, of course, we were both sick when the day finally arrived.

We packed our bags and headed to the inn. Once there, we were amazed at how quiet the ride was and on how we were actually able to talk without our son or daughter yelling, crying, screaming or interrupting us. I had forgotten how nice it was to have an adult conversation. In the parking lot of the inn, we grabbed our luggage and I asked my wife, "Where is my laptop bag?" Now before you get the wrong idea, I had wanted to bring the laptop because the inn had free wi-fi and I thought it would be nice to be able to read the news in the morning while my wife was sleeping. Plus, I also packed some snacks, my green tea mug (thankfully, my blooming tea bud and glass brewer was in the luggage), tiny LED candles and some paper bags so I could light up our room at night. My wife's face said it all. She had forgotten to pack the bags. Before leaving the house, I had helped my mother-in-law unpack her car as she was staying with the kids and my wife took our bag into our car but was sidetracked in having to put a stroller from our trunk into the shed.

Right away she wanted to turn around and go back to get it. I was a bit bothered, but didn't want to go back even when she said she'd go back by herself and I could relax in the room. I just wanted to not talk about it and to just let it go. I wasn't so frustrated about the laptop but I did have our iPod player as I had wanted to play some relaxing music while we were in the room. I had the iPod all ready with a great playlist but no way to play it (the Bose alarm clock in the room didn't have an auxilliary jack).

We went up into our room (Amelia Suite) and unpacked. Then we quickly went back into the car and headed to Peddler's Village. We checked all the shops out, picked up some POS for later and then drove to New Hope to find a place to eat. First stop was the Triumph brewery. Why do I say first stop? We had imagined a place with a nice fireplace, a booth where we could sit and talk. Instead we were seated by a window, it was cold and we heard kids crying. Not excactly what we had in mind. We shared a salad and some drinks and then settled up. After searching around on Yelp, we found a place called Karla's and headed to that. While walking over the bridge, my wife spotted the flicker of a warm fire from a restaurant situated right up against the canal. We investigated and wound up having dinner at the Tuscany at the Towpath House. An open pit fire, a tree that was inside the restaurant as it had been struck by lightning in the '40s added to the great atmosphere. The food was fair to good (mine dinner was better than my wife's), but we were tired, cold and just wanted to rest.

After dinner we headed back to the inn and it was great to relax in our room's whirlpool and just relax the night away. In the morning, I looked outside and saw snow. I could hear the sheep bleating outside and the fireplace in our room helped to warm us up. I can't tell you how nice it was to just unwind for a day and not have to worry about life, the universe and everything. Of course, we're worried about our jobs with the weak economy and our savings for the future and our struggles with trying to be the best parents we can with both of us working full-time. Life is a balancing act between one sphere of life and another. Often these spinning spheres of energy blur into each other and keeping all the balls up in the air is a challenge. Life is much more complicated than when my wife and I first met 14 years ago. Back then I could wax poetic about what I wanted to do in life and where I was headed and my dreams. Today it's hard to eat without my daughter leaning against me and getting spaghetti sauce on me. It's funny how life changes so quickly and you look in the mirror and see how old you've gotten. Not that this is bad or surprising, but you wonder if you'd done all you could do and if you've been the best partner and father you could be.

There's always room for improvement, but sometimes it's nice to just be. Etre. To be. Not to think. Not to worry. Not to be concerned or worried or anything. Just to be. I appreciated having that time yesterday with my wife. It was wonderful. And restful. And ours.