hooky

To take advantage of the lovely sunny and spring-y weather we've been having this week and banish the touch of spring fever I had, my boy and I played hooky. Hooky! What fun!

After some arm-twisting from me, we skipped out on everything and drove down to the coast. We walked along the water and looked at pelicans and gulls and boats and all there was to see.

We took a boat ride and admired the sailboats and wished we could own one and travel around like The Richies do. He knows an older couple who do just this, and we are jealous. We are green with envy and also bound and determined to figure out a way to make much more money now so we can maybe do such things. Things like: get a whim and sail off to the BVI (because Richies don't say British Virgin Islands; it's just the BVI to them). Meanwhile, since we must live in reality, we took the cheapest possible boat tour ($10 - a real steal!) on a not-very-appealing boat. Still, it was so much fun and quite a treat to be out on the water with the sun shining and the breeze blowing my hair all around. It makes me feel alive again after being cooped up in the city for so long.

After all this, we stopped to eat in a restaurant in order to get our parking validated. Avoiding the $5 parking only cost us $45! Yes, we are smart and sensible, both of us. I had some boiled shimp and a salad, and I just love sitting on the water's edge and eating peel-and-eat shrimp. I don't know why it's so much fun; I suppose it's connected to memories of doing the same on the beach and being happy and relaxed and just content. And, yes, I felt happy and relaxed and just content in that moment too.

And in the end, we felt very lucky to be able to do all this. We don't get to own sailboats or travel to exotic places very often. And we have to drive three and a half hours for what is only a 110-mile round trip (because the traffic on the way is horrible, y'all). But we are very lucky to be able to enjoy moments like these that are special because they are real and simple and much too few-and-far-between.