As I had said in a previous post, Japan, Who Knew, Day and I have a great year of traveling ahead of us. We just got back from Savannah, Georgia, and are now on our way to Tampa, Florida. I am actually writing this on the plane, and trying to ignore the three incredibly loud women two rows up from me. It’s 8:30 in the morning, they’re drinking wine already, and they haven’t shut up for the last two hours. We’ll be in Tampa, and far away from them soon enough though. Day and I are joining her mom, sister, and sister’s boyfriend, for a long weekend, to celebrate her mom’s birthday.

Contrary to popular opinion, Day and I do more than just vacation. We work, and we work very hard. We have a home to care for, and have the normal everyday crap to deal with. And, on occasion, like everyone, we are thrown a curve ball, but for now, life is good, and I am excited about a long weekend in Tampa with family.

We land in about an hour. We’ll grab an Uber to our Airbnb, and wait for everyone to arrive. Day’s sister put the trip together, so I’m not sure what our plans are for the weekend, but I’m sure it will be fun. I will continue writing from Tampa.

As usual, I fell behind. I did not, continue this post from Tampa. We’ve actually been back for weeks, and I still haven’t finished it.

Day and I landed safe, grabbed our bags, an Uber and headed to The Pickett Fence, our AirBnB. We arrived early, but we were able to drop our bags off at the house, and head out to lunch. We went to Ella’s Americana Folk Art Cafe, just a five minute walk from the house. The lunch was good, but the Bloody Marys, were absolutely fantastic. I had a sip of Day’s, and then ordered a virgin for myself, but it wasn’t the same. The vodka is infused with all the flavors of garlic, ancho and chipotle peppers, and was hands down, the best Bloody Mary I have ever had.

Bloody Ella 
Ella’s garlic-ancho-chipotle peppers vodka,
Loaded Bloody Mix.   Sunday w/Rib

And yes, on Sundays, instead of the traditional celery stick, they put a sparerib in it. Delicious!

Day’s mom, her sister and sister’s boyfriend all arrived safely. We got settled in at the Pickett Fence, and went back to Ella’s for dinner. We were all tired from a day of travel, and it’s close. We spent the rest of the evening catching up with one another. Day’s family doesn’t live close by and we only get to see them 2 or 3 times a year. More would be better, they’re incredibly kind, and wonderful people, and not just her mom and sister, her entire family is great, and has always been wonderful to me.

I was fortunate enough to have met Day’s grandparents, and had a few years to get to know them, before they passed. Her grandmother and grandfather welcomed me into their home, and treated me like family from the very first day. I think of them often, I think; he was the husband I want to be, and they had the marriage I want to have. Anyhow, I got lucky, I have a good wife, and good in-laws, thanks to Grandma and Grandpa I think.

After breakfast on Saturday morning, we headed into the center of Tampa to Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park and the Tampa Riverwalk. I gotta say, either Day’s sister is lucky as hell, or she’s a genius, because this Saturday happened to be when the 2019 Mayor’s River O’Green Celebration was happening.

It was quite the event, tons of people on the Riverfront, music, street food, the river was full of boaters, and, it was green! A green river was certainly a site to see, and it was a first for me.

We were in Tampa for just a few days, but we managed to pack quite a bit in. The best Bloody Mary I ever had, a River O’Green celebration and dinner and a show at the Columbia Restaurant, which, was only a block away from a parade! Yes, Day’s sister happened to pick a restaurant that’s a block away from Tampa’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Genius. The following day, we rented water bikes and cruised up and down the river. Afterwards, we did some sightseeing and went to check out the manatees that hang out in the warm water around a powerplant. We saw one, for just a half a minute, but it was cool.

So, that was our long weekend in Tampa, with family. In the beginning of this post I wrote, “And, on occasion, like everyone, we are thrown a curve ball, but for now, life is good, and I am excited about a long weekend in Tampa with family.” I was excited, and it was fun, and wonderful to see Day’s family. At the time though, all was not perfect, I lied a bit. Day and I were thrown one of those curveballs in January. Everything turned out just fine though, and I do not have cancer!

In January, an annual physical and a persistent cough led to an x-ray. The cough turned into pneumonia, which is still lingering. The crappy looking x-ray however, turned into: 12-15 doctor appointments, which included 3 primary care visits, 2 pulmonologists, 1 thoracic surgeon and an oncologist, all of whom were looking at: 2 x-rays, 1 CT scan, 1 PET scan, 1 broncoscopy (a biopsy of my lung, where they stick something up my nose, down my throat and into the lung, to grab a sample) and 1 CT guided needle biopsy (stick a needle through your chest and into your lung to grab a sample). So, for two and a half months, Day and I were being told, “we don’t know for sure, we hope it’s the pneumonia, but it could be cancer.” One clown said he was sure it was cancer, the mass was growing, and we need to get it out now! So pretty scary crap, but thankfully, it’s the pneumonia. I’ll go back in a month or so, for 1 more x-ray once the pneumonia is completely gone, just to be sure.

So, our lives are not all about vacations, I think there should be more though. More time spent with Day, more time spent with family and friends and more vacations. I can’t imagine years from now, when I’m lying in my deathbed, I’m gonna think I wish I had spent more time pouring concrete foundations. And quite frankly, who knows how much time any of us have. Needless to say, I’m feeling pretty good about our vacations this year.

We have a couple of vacations behind us, and three ahead of us. In just a few days, we are off to Prague! It’s quite the crew, me and Day, my mom and our friend Susan, and we’ll meet family and friends out there. I am very excited about this trip, and with all this crap behind us, I think Day and I can breathe a little easier and really enjoy our time with family and friends, and most of all, each other.

Explore. Dream. Discover. Travel. Together, with family and friends, for many more years (hopefully).

Luv ya,

Curly