Prelude
My cousin, Denise, and I got back from our third annual “Denise’s Birthday in New England” trip about a month and a half ago. Typically, I write about my travels much quicker after I return from a trip for a couple of reasons: 1) I love to write – especially about traveling. 2) The sooner I write about it, the fresher the memories are and the more detail I can recall.
This time, I had a change in my work schedule that started as soon as I was home from this trip, and I have been balls to the wall every day since then. So, this is the first chance I’ve had to get any writing done where I haven’t worked all day and half the night. So far today, I still have some functioning brain cells floating around in my cranium.
Before I get too deep into this, let me warn you; I have decided to write in a different style from my usual this time. Rather than teetering on the edge of formal, I am going to write in a style that is more me. Having said that, know that I cuss a lot, and you will see it in the prose that follows. For any of you who have known me most of my life, this won’t shock you. For the few who read it that I met through church…just know this…I cleaned up my mouth for quite a few years, but I have fallen back into this one old habit that just won’t die. Forgive me.
Also, this time, I am going to write on a more personal note – more details about us and what it was like for both of us on this trip – details of our conversations and such – versus the usual detailing of the beautiful places we saw.
Lastly, there is so much to tell you about this trip that I am going to write it in parts. I usually sit down and write it all out in one sitting. But if I did that this time, it would be too long for blog format, and most of you wouldn’t have time to sit still that long and finish reading it.
Consider this Part One.
I Don’t Feel So Good
You may have read a while back that I had planned a trip to South Africa for September of 2023. Around July, I started getting this strong feeling in my gut that I needed to cancel that trip. I didn’t know why, but I did know that the feeling wouldn’t go away, and continued to get more persistent. Fifty-two days before I was to depart, I cancelled the trip, having no idea what disaster I may have avoided by doing so.
In its stead, Denise and I decided to embark on our third annual trip to New England during the week of her birthday.
We decided to add some places that were new to both of us to the itinerary: Newport, Rhode Island, Mystic, Connecticut, and a town that shall remain unnamed in Maine (you’ll see why later). We also planned to return to a few places we have seen before and love: Kennebunkport, Portland and Bar Harbor, Maine. Originally, we had planned some time in Cape Cod, Salem and Gloucester, Massachusetts, but we had to cut some places out because we just didn’t have enough time to do it all.
Five days before we were scheduled to leave, I started having some discomfort in my gut. For a few days, I blew it off trying to convince myself it was nothing. However, after three days of it, the discomfort had turned to pain, which was pretty bad at times, and I had started running a fever.
Damnit man!! The timing of this shit sucked!! I never get sick. Now, I’m sick!
So, two days before we were to depart, I started a course of two antibiotics twice a day for ten days to battle my very first bout of diverticulitis.
I was hopeful that I’d start feeling completely normal again within twenty-four hours or so of starting the antibiotics…how naïve of my nineteen-years-as-a-nurse-with-my-first-nursing-job-being-an-endo-nurse-at-a-medical-facility-that-specailized-in-treating-gastrointestinal-ailments self!!
As any of you who have ever taken a similar course of antibiotics already know, this gave me an entirely different kind of gut ailment on top of the diverticulitis. Not fun. Especially while on a trip.
Having said that, had I not cancelled South Africa, all of this (and more) would have happened while I was there. I can’t even imagine the nightmare it could have been trying to get the medical care I needed and the medications I needed, all while trying to keep up with the group and activities I had already paid to be a part of. Thank God I listened to my gut (pun intended) about cancelling that trip!!
We left Savannah for New England on a Thursday. The following Sunday was the first day I felt normal – though it was very short lived. More on that later. For now, suffice it to say I felt like shit for all but two days of our ten-day trip. The level of shit I was feeling varied, some days more so than others. But shitty just the same.
Another Damn Hurricane!
When we were on our second annual Denise’s Birthday in New England trip last year, we added Nova Scotia to the itinerary. Halifax was our home base. We ended up having to leave and head back to Maine several days early because a hurricane was headed straight for Nova Scotia (Halifax in particular) and it was supposed to be pretty bad.
Now, we had already decided to leave there early for other reasons anyway, but the hurricane impacted everything just the same. Our ferry back to Maine was cancelled because the water was too rough even two days before the storm was supposed to hit. So, we ended up driving nine plus hours, much of it in the rain, back to Maine.
This year, another hurricane formed and was, once again, predicted to hit exactly where we were supposed to be. So, we had to rearrange our itinerary on the fly, keeping us just on the outskirts of the severe weather (Rhode Island), and delaying our arrival in Portland so we would arrive just after the bad weather cleared out of that area (we spent the day in Mystic instead, rather than just an hour or two like we had originally planned).
Dodging hurricanes isn’t the easiest game, but we managed to win – we still went to all of the cities we had planned, and didn’t have to rearrange any hotel bookings or lose any money because of it.
Sadly, our lighthouse tour by boat that we had booked for Newport did get cancelled, and that was something we were both looking forward to a lot. But we will book it again if we ever go back there.
For now, that’s it. But be looking for my next post where I will tell you all about our drive from Boston to Rhode Island (it was a nightmare!! LOTS of cussing!!!), the best meal I’ve ever had, and share a little about Mystic Pizza!!
