Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self. - Cyril Connolly
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Cursed?
So... in a casual conversation with my bud D this evening, we were contemplating visitation plans and vacation options for the upcoming year. D lives in Rhode Island. We met in Philly, went to the same school (at different times) have known each other for going on 15 years now, and are best buds. But more importantly, we are best vacation buddies. We travel well together. That is probably the biggest compliment I can pay anyone. Lots of family members don't travel well together. Schedules, interests, places, etc... Lots of people who LIVE well together can't TRAVEL well together. D and I do. I could establish a whole other blog of travel stories and travails between D and I. We hang out well, we give each other space, we enjoy the same things, and we have the same "vacation clock". Traveling with someone is not always easy, and even D and I are not perfect, but we're pretty damn close, and after what is becoming an annual, and even more often event, we've begun planning for it.
Tonight we were talking about our next get together. I was up at her place in Rhode Island for "Girl's Weekend" with a half dozen other crazies in August. Parts of that group had been to the New Orleans Jazz Festival in May. Since Jazz Fest (at least in New Orleans) does not look like an option next Spring, we were tossing out alternatives:
"So...Hurricane Katrina hits NOLA a few months after we were there?", I said.
"Hmmm - what about going back to that place we went to on St. John's in the US Virgin Islands? The snorkeling and diving were great." D said.
"Hmmmm - they got creamed by a hurricane just after we were there." I said.
"What about that place in Mexico we went to for your birthday with the girls?" D said. "THAT was a fun week!"
"Hmmm - wiped out by Wilma last week." I said.
"And to San Francisco to see Julie and Andrew?" D said.
"Well that was back in '97 and El Nino washed all the roads out - remember?" I said.
Silence.
"Seems everywhere we go, a major disaster follows a few months later." D said.
"So, where should we go?" I ask.
"I think it's pretty obvious, don't you? Crawford, TX."
Please never go to Hawaii. Despite what I say, I love my sister and cousin.