Book News: I CAN’T EVEN is out and you can order it in paperback or e-book wherever books are sold. An audio version from Dreamscape will be coming soon!
THANK YOU to all who’ve ordered it or borrowed it from their library!
Contest: The winner of a signed copy of I CAN’T EVEN and this sweet matching hat is…JENNA ROJAS! Congratulations! Message me your mailing address, Jenna, and I’ll mail your prize! For everyone else, I’ll announce a new winner in the next newsletter so stay subscribed as it could be you!
Events: None, presently.
What’s on my mind?
This week Hub and I are celebrating our 26th wedding anniversary. We were supposed to be in Las Vegas seeing Dead & Co at the Sphere, but life had other plans—as it frequently does. Our AC unit on our roof went hooters up and we live in AZ so we had to make the fiscally responsible decision (dang it!) to save a Vegas trip for another day and put in a new AC unit. Homeowners, I know you feel the pain of this in your soul. As my father-in-law, frequently and wisely says, “It is what it is.”
Of course, missing out on our trip got me to thinking about other trips we’ve taken. Not family ones, just getaways for the Hub and me. We’ve had some wonderful times together, but I think the most memorable was our trip to Puerto Peñasco, Mexico when we’d been married about six months.
Naturally, it was unseasonably hot when we arrived and our room wasn’t ready so we wandered over to a food stand a friend had recommended and got two big old shrimp cocktails. Puerto Peñasco is known for shrimping so we knew it would be delicious. Hub and I dove in. Halfway through, Hub got a funny look and said, “I don’t think this tastes right.” I waved him off and said, “It’s fine.”
We strolled the local malecón, saw porpoises swimming offshore, did some shopping, and then checked into our room. We had a romantic dinner out at a restaurant and enjoyed a sunset stroll on the beach. All wonderful and lovely for two newly marrieds.
And then came the moment I discovered we were sooooo married, as in for better or worse, in sickness and in health, and so forth. At two in the morning I woke up with cramps like I was in labor. Feeling the ominous rumble in my belly I bolted to our bathroom. Small problem, the overhead light was out so I had to purge my system in the dark. Fabulous.
Now as a newly married, I was still in the Season 1, Episode 1 Mrs. Maisel phase of our marriage, where I tried to be dazzling (or at least presentable) at all times. Y’all, I was in that bathroom with the door shut, in the dark, wanting to howl, but did I? No. Couldn’t have Hub thinking he’d married something feral, now could I? When I’d evacuated everything in my body except vital organs, I went back to bed.
Sweaty and exhausted, I did fall asleep only to be woken by my husband, who was now in the throes of his own purge. But here’s the thing, where I used the facility silently in the dark, the Hub opened the main door to our room and the bathroom door to let in the light! Not only that, but he wasn’t trying to keep his moans and groans on the downlow at all. I’m quite certain the people in the neighboring rooms were convinced the hotel was haunted.
Suffice to say, we spent a miserable day racing each other to the restroom and on our drive home somewhere in Why, Arizona (yes, the town name is real), I did have to overtake an elderly gentleman (okay, fine, there might have been a little body checking involved) to beat him to the one available restroom.
Why am I oversharing? Mostly, because the memory makes me laugh but also that trip encapsulates what our marriage has always been about—laughing together but also suffering together—and the big takeaway, at least for me, was that the Hub didn’t give two hoots if I was dainty in my misery. In fact, when I hip-checked the old guy (sorry, sir), Hub high fived me and said, “That’s my girl.”
And so, even though this year’s celebration is on hold, I know we’ll find something to laugh about even as we suffer through the hiccup of a broken air conditioner.
Wishing you all good things! Happy Reading!
XO, Jenn
Thank you so so much! I am beyond thrilled! Congratulations on your anniversary! I'm sorry to read about the trip :( I hope the ac is fixed very very soon!
Now, that's true love! Happy Anniversary to you both!