Home Again, Home Again

     I have a rare gift.

     Who else can create chaos in their home, where they alone abide, so effortlessly and thoroughly?

The kind of chaos where, when I returned from a twelve-day Mexican vacation with family, I opened the door and thought: “I’ve been burgled!”

Clothes and papers and suitcases and various bags and boxes had been left strewn on the living room and dining room furniture and floors. Collections of papercraft items teetered from horizontal surfaces; one or two had succumbed to gravity and slid to the floor and dining room chairs. Most of the kitchen cabinet doors gaped open. The trash can, normally hidden under the counter (but thankfully empty!) stood askew in my mini kitchen. Numerous empty plastic containers upended on kitchen towels littered the counters. A teacup had evidently been left half full and now sported a solid brown band in the lower half of the cup.

Ah yes, now I remember…

A peek in the guest bedroom confirmed that the disarray was not limited to the living area. Never mind the craft room. My bedroom revealed that at least I threw the covers over the pillows when I arose at 3:30 a.m. on that Tuesday towards the end of March to drive to the Traverse City airport for a flight to Mexico.

The bathroom counter was cluttered with travel-sized bottles and toiletries and a pile of (Yay! at least it’s clean) laundry on the bedroom chair awaited folding. I almost tripped over an open bin of out-of-season footwear.

Sigh.

It was 11:30 p.m. when I walked through the door. Too late to deal with any of this. The mess could wait until tomorrow. I moved the box of sandals impeding the bathroom doorway, took care of my teeth, washed off some travel grime, donned my jammies, and fell into bed. My familiar pillows and bedding welcomed me. I snuggled in, warmed by memories of the rendezvous with my daughter Sairah and two teenage grandchildren from Victoria, BC., and welcomed sleep.

But sleep didn’t come.

Two hours later I swung my feet to the floor and pulled on my bathrobe. I figured I might as well do something to distract myself from the “I’m-so-tired-but-can’t-fall-asleep-and-I’m-going-to-feel-terrible-tomorrow” refrain.

Of course, it was already tomorrow…

The good news was that I had no appointments or obligations for the next couple of days and, therefore, I could indulge in a nap or two.

Amid the debris, I cleared a space on the sofa and sat with a cup of weak tea. Truth was I had no energy to contemplate even a small task or open a book or twiddle my thumbs. Instead, I occupied myself with soothing self-talk because I didn’t want to think of myself as a slob.

“Well, Susan, no wonder the house is a colossal mess. You had foot surgery February 19 followed by three weeks of limited mobility and no exercise. When the boot came off on March 12, it took a week to remind your body how to walk normally and realign knees and hips that were out of alignment because of the uneven height between the booted and non-booted feet. You knocked out a few essential errands and had lunch on March 14 with MaryEllen at GT Pie, which came with a side of COVID. You were so lucky that it was not severe, and that the eighth day, the last day you could be contagious, was happily the day before your scheduled departure.”

No moral dilemma as to whether to board the plane!

“But, Susan, based upon the state of the house, the COVID fog really hit harder than we thought. True, the checked-luggage situation didn’t help. Discovering the day before departure that the chosen bag was too big – that really sent you into a tizzy. But it was a blessing that (a) you thought to measure it before filling it, and (b) the twenty-year-old carryon (that one day a few years ago, in the airline’s quest to profit from travelers, was found at the airport counter to be oversized for a carryon) came to the rescue. You played Tetris to fit three pounds of dried cherries, three bottles of a requested and specific instant tea, little gifts, a couple of down-time papercraft projects, and clothes and shoes for two weeks in the trusty now-expanded no-longer-a-carryon bag. Downsizing from the larger bag size meant you had to cull some clothes (decisions, decisions) and largely abandon the junk journal projects that you had planned to do with Jolene. The last-minute changes led to this crazy mess. It will take time and energy to take care of all of it, but hey, it’s not our first rodeo!”

Some of this positivity was the lingering glow from family time. Such a memorable getaway with Sairah and the kids. As a once-a-year-in-person Mom and Grandma, I was blessed to have ten full days with them in San Pancho, a compact seaside town safe enough to stroll with only normal travel precautions. It was lovely to see Sairah’s college friends and extended family, Erica and Amy, who piled on at the last minute.

The weather was perfect, 75 degrees and sunny - a break from gloomy Michigan March skies. What a picker-upper! How wonderful the sun, the warmth, the ease!

In my book, no travel, restaurant, or lodging account can be complete without a review of the seating. The Papasan egg-shaped chairs with hammock-like woven seats on our balcony at the first hotel were specifically engineered to cut the blood flow of short-legged people and successfully did so in record time. Anyone who sat on them arose with a geometric pattern embossed on their posterior.

One flight up, the roof area with tables, sofas, swimming pool, and jacuzzi, was spacious and cooler than street level. We could choose sun or shade. Sairah “stole” a chair more suited to me from the first floor and moved it to the roof so I had a workable perch at the table where Jolene and I painted by number and chatted. When we wanted to read, we did so on the plentiful upholstered sofas and chairs outfitted with enough pillows to arrange back support or comfort those who chose to read lying down. We had almost exclusive use of the space; other guests might come for an hour or so, but we spent hours upon hours there.

The forty-four steps from the street to our floor and the additional twenty-two steps to the roof were good for me (as I breathlessly reminded myself, still recovering from COVID and travel).

The kids indulged me when I didn’t feel up to climbing up and down all those steps.

“Oh Sami,” I’d say winningly, “I forgot my (fill in the blank) in our room; could you get it for me, please?”

“Oh Jolene, could you run down to the café and fetch a latté for me, please?”

They gave me eyerolls and deep sighs only once or twice. Totally expected at thirteen and fifteen years old. Or come to think of it, any age.

The next half of our vacation took place a couple of blocks away in and around a recently built condo which earned five stars from for the extremely comfortable furniture both inside and on the large balcony. Well, except for the high bed which required a vaulting pole for me to surmount it.

I sat at the balcony table to paint or papercraft; I relaxed and read on the couch, looking up to savor the ocean view and the music of the waves breaking. An unseen artist on the street below us played guitar and sang in the evening. It was magical.

François, my son-in-law, joined us. He’d been on a motorcycle adventure further south for a few days. It was notable because his motorcycle developed an oil leak, and he had to MacGyver the stripped screw with duct tape. Also, he ate a lot of dust from the roads because, of course, he was behind the guide who kicked up the road dust. He seemed not to mind the first situation but didn’t enjoy the second. It was good to see him safe and sound.

Sairah, having visited San Pancho previously with the family, was familiar with the restaurant that featured the best guacamole I’ve ever had (with pistachios!). This is where some of us enjoyed a shoulder, neck, and head massage while seated at outdoor tables in the courtyard - on benches of appropriate height.

Jolene could and did read any hour unoccupied by sleeping, or eating in a restaurant, or mandatory sunset viewing from the beach, or family fun-time in the pool, or perusing the outdoor market offerings. I would say that she had to be cajoled, prodded, enticed, bribed, and persuaded into abandoning, for a while, her book friends and adventures. But everyone knew the drill, and she was good natured about it all.

I learned that Sami is still a big fan of Dungeons and Dragons. He was on day 89 of learning Spanish on the DuoLingo app. He could happily eat tacos for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. From his previous visits, he knew that he liked best the tacos at “the blue place,” and “the red place” rated second. He was confident enough to venture on his own for his taco fixes.

Erica and Amy hovered over me when we chatted on our walks to restaurants. Street cobblestones are hard to walk on, especially in sandals, and sidewalk hazards were numerous. I’m a person who can concentrate on a conversation or where I’m walking, but not both simultaneously, so I appreciated their solicitousness.

Briony, the taxi driver who ferried us to and from the airport, was friendly. We talked for most of the hour and fifteen minutes of the drive each way. He wanted to practice English and was curious about our politics. He was very proud of Claudia Scheinbaum, the Mexican president, and her reply to Trump about proposed tariffs. He laughed off my apology for the malevolent circus goon we have in the White House.

“You need a woman like ours!”

“We tried to elect one; it almost happened!” I protested.

Of course, the best part was becoming reacquainted with the family. François enjoys exploring on his own and has to stay active. Sairah is an extraordinarily empathetic, thoughtful, and organized person, if I do say so myself. The kids are also above average, and I don’t say that just because I am their grandmother. They both have a wry sense of humor, rather adult; and like all grandchildren everywhere, they are very smart.

Goodbye hugs squeezed tears from me. Partly happy, partly sad.

Would I do it again even if I recently had minor surgery and COVID and last-minute packing challenges and returned to a house in shambles?

¡Por supuesto!