V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N!

Tomorrow afternoon I will walk over to 54th Street and 6th Avenue to rent a car from Avis. For the first time in exactly eight months I will drive a motorized vehicle. It’s about a 16-block ride from Midtown to the Lincoln Tunnel that will get me out of Manhattan and on my way to Vacation. And I’m petrified.

In a couple of months I have to undergo total disc replacement surgery in my back. That doesn’t worry me. Driving a vehicle 16 blocks in Manhattan worries me. I just know that some angry Yellow Cab driver is going to rear-end me for yielding to a pedestrian (Seattle style), or cut me off and make me drive into a fire hydrant or something. Ack! Driving in NYC - something I was hoping to avoid. (Some car-less residents actually take public transportation out of the city to pick up a rental car.)

Martin the cat is in for a surprise tomorrow. Today I worked from home, and he drove me nuts, crying by the front door the entire day. That’s the first time he’s whined non-stop for an entire day since we moved into this apartment about five and a half months ago. He has ants in his furry pants. It’s quite clear that he is sick of 770 square feet. I knew this day would come.

I’ve gotten used to the small space. Martin is bored with it. It breaks my heart to say “No you can’t go out,” as he cries by the front door. But today I tried to explain to him that he gets a major reprieve tomorrow – sort of. I assured him, “You just wait, my sweetest boy in the whole wide world, tomorrow you’ll have a whole new place to explore!” . . . . after spending about three hours in a 22" cat carrier on a car seat. (I failed to tell him the second part of the story. Oops.)

We’re driving only as far as Dover, Delaware, tomorrow after work. I cut the trip into two legs to make it easier on Martin. The next day we’ll spend the night in Chesapeake, Virginia, with my brother and his family, where Martin will stay for another week. Then Saturday I’ll join the whole family in a beautiful, waterfront “luxury estate” near the Chesapeake Bay for a whole week of fun in the sun. (See www.vrbo.com/25725.)

This wonderful vacation is a gift from my parents to all of us kids. We’re celebrating 50 years together as a family – starting on the day of my parents’ wedding on May 28, 1955. Hard to believe. And yet very impressive. I know I couldn’t do it. :)

This is my first vacation in years. I’m so used to spending my vacation time moving that I don’t know how it’s going to feel to not work on vacation. I honestly can’t wait. Just one more day of work, one last presentation to my customer, and one harried trip out of the city - and we’re on our way to some much needed R&R! See you on the 19th.