In late May of 2008 Sheri and I had taken what I call our first real vacation. Yes we had gone away to Atlantic City for long weekend getaways but never had we really been away. Up until that point the longest consecutive days that we spent together was a whopping 3.
As previously mentioned one of my best friends had moved back to her home-city of Memphis in Oct of 2006. I had gone to visit her twice in 2007 and I was itching to go back but I wanted Sheri to come with me and finally meet my friend. After our failed attempt at therapy she had said that we could go but kept putting it off hoping that I'd eventually just drop the subject or all together forget.
Ha, silly girl.
One day I had finally had enough and I told her that I am going to pick a weekend to go to Memphis and buy the tickets and there was nothing she could do about it. Up until that point I had never asked anything from her, I had been trying to regain her trust in me for over a year, and I was REALLY tired of meeting nothing but a brick wall sitting on top of a roadblock overlapping a speed bump...and lined with barbed wire. I had said very sternly that we're going to Memphis whether she likes it or not.
She reluctantly said yes but I didn't care, I was going on vacation with my girlfriend and visiting my best friend. I booked our trip at a beautiful Hilton Hotel right on Poplar Ave.
The morning of our flight came and ladies, I am not a pretty flyer. I have horrible panic attacks on the plane and normally have to drug myself before I even walk into the airport. We had gotten a car service because I like to fly early so we have the entire day to get settled and perhaps go out a bit. I'm getting ready at my house which in my language means throwing on yoga pants, a zipper up hoodie, and sneakers. My thinking is if the plane is going to crash I best be wearing something I can run away from the wreckage in.
The car was supposed to pick me up at 7. I had taken a shower the night prior so I could sleep in until 6:40. Sheri starts calling/texting me a little after 6:15 that they're already on their way. Ok...she lives about 40 minutes away from me, I still have time. 5 minutes later she texts me "We're getting off the parkway..."
Shit!
Another 10 minutes later "We're getting off of 80..."
DOUBLE SHIT! It's supposed to take 40 minutes! So far he's going to take 25!
I'm texting her back "Tell him to slow down!"
She's laughing and says "He's flying down the road! We're probably averaging 85."
I'm scrambling to get ready, do some last minute packing, brush my teeth, put my hair up, put some sort of makeup on so I don't look like the walking dead and Sheri's texting me at about 6:30 "Be there in 5."
CRAP!
They pull into my driveway and I'm still running around like a chicken without a head. I lived with my parents so Sheri is in the house trying to help me carry my luggage out. We had left on a Wednesday morning so my mother is getting ready for work. The way my house is set up is my parents' room, computer room, and their seperate bathroom is on the 3rd floor. My bedroom along with two other bedrooms and seperate bathroom are on the 2nd floor with the main living area on the 1st floor. My bathroom is at the bottom of the staircase between the 2nd and 3rd floor and their bathroom is at the top so they have to walk across the hallway to get from their bedroom to their bathroom.
If you can picture that in your head, kudos to you!
So I'm in my bedroom throwing toiletries in a bag to put in my suitcase and Sheri walks into my roomand looks like she had just seen a ghost. "What's wrong? I asked.
She closes her eyes tight and shakes her head "I don't wanna talk about it."
"Babe..."
"Your mother just walked from her bedroom to her bathroom...wearing nothing but a towel across her shoulders."
I clasped my hand over my mouth to stifle my laughter. I love my mother to bits but she is not a tiny woman.
"I swear, I'm scarred for life," Sheri says as she shudders.
"What are you laughing at?" I hear my mother call down from upstairs.
Sheri's eyes grow wider and shakes her head "no" back and forth to not say anything.
"Nothing Mom!" I shout back up to her. I figured my mother would be mortified if she knew Sheri saw her in her birthday suit.
She comes down, clothed, and gives us hugs and wishes us well. We dash out the door and are on our way to the airport.
"I will forever have that image burned into my brain."
I patted Sheri's knee and told her she'll survive. I on the other hand am already rooting through my purse for my xanax. I can feel the panic start to bubble in my chest and as our driver nearly takes the wrong highway I start to tear up. Sheri has NO idea what to do with me when I cry so she starts vigorously rubbing my back going "Ooooohhh don't cry! It's ok! Please don't cry!!"
I'm trying to take deep breaths to calm myself down and 20 minutes later we pull up to the airport. Panic has been replaced by excitement that I will be able to fly with my girlfriend. I walk through the airport like I own the joint and we find our gate and sit and wait. We have about an hour until our plane boards so we grab a little breakfast. At this point I take my Dramamine because in case I haven't mentioned I also get horrible motion sickness in planes. Remember my plane fiasco the second time I went to Memphis? I had vertigo for nearly a month after all of that landing and taking off.
It comes time to board the plan and the planes to Memphis are reaaally tiny. It's one and two seats and God forbid if you stand up your head nearly touches the roof. When we sit I feel the panic start to rise again and my body becomes flush and I put all of the air nozzles on full force pointed directly at my face so I can breathe. I have my head back, hands gripping the armrests. Every jolt, every movement I'm praying to God we don't crash. Sheri breaks my concentration with "Are you OK?"
My eyes flash open and they're brimmed with tears. "Do I look OK??" I choke out.
"Not really. You'll be OK. Look, we're getting ready to take off." And she starts rubbing my back again which is doing nothing but annoying me.
As we rumble down the runway I hear the flaps moving to prepare for takeoff. Instant water works. I elbow Sheri and try to motion for her to get me another pill of xanax but she has no idea what I'm asking for. "What? Do you want water? Do you want a piece of gum? What do you want I don't know what you're looking for!"
"Oh forget it!" I yell out as I bend down and rifle through my bag and pop a xanax.
The woman diagonally behind us calmly says "Oh it's alright dear, I can tell you're not a good flyer."
Gee lady, what tipped you off?
"I can sing for you if you'd like. I don't sing well so it'll definately make you take your mind off of it." And she breaks out into some horrible like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star tune. I can do nothing but laugh and it does for a few seconds take my mind off the fact that I have gone from the ground to ten thousand feet in the air in a matter of a minute.
After we level out the flight attendant comes around with the drink cart. "I'll have the wine please." I say without her even asking. I don't care if it is 9 in the morning-I don't fly well! Don't judge me!
After I down the wine like it's a shot I put my headphones on, grab Sheri's hand, and close my eyes. I feel the warmth of calm, or possibly the wine and xanax, wash over me. Every few minutes I nod awake and notice that my mouth is hanging open and that I must look quite silly. But who the hell cares, at least I'm not crying.
Two and a half hours later we land in Memphis and I could kiss the ground I'm so happy to be on it. We immediately go to our hotel and christen the room. There truly isn't anything better than loud, wild, monkey vacation sex. We lay there naked with her fingers tracing up the curves of my body and I have a contented smile painted on my face. That night when deciding what to have for dinner Sheri said she actually had a surprise for me. We got dressed up and headed down Poplar Ave where I tried to quiz her on where we were going. She would just hold my hand and say "Don't worry, it's a surprise."
About 2 miles down the road Sheri pulls into a parking lot where I see "Ruth's Chris Steakhouse." This is one of our favorite restaurants and I jump for absolute joy. She's smiling at me and I said "What did you do?!"
"I went online and found out this was right up the road from our hotel so I made reservations to surprise you."
I clapped excitedly as my mouth started watering for the Pitete Filet and Caramel Appletini that I would be consuming within a matter of minutes.
The few days we were down there were amazing. We went to the Memphis Zoo where I ran around looking at the animals like I was 7 years old. We even were able to watch the Sea Lion show where I clapped louder than everyone.
One day we went to the botannical gardens down there in hopes to see the Butterly Garden. Little did we realize that while things were still coming to life in New Jersey it was already summer down in Memphis. All of the flowers and plants were dead, there was not a butterfly to be found. We still walked and imagined what could have been there and did enjoy the fact that we nearly had the whole place to ourselves. We saw little turtles race across open fields, the biggest Koi pond ever where they would follow you from one side to another because they knew humans meant food. We also sat on a bench in front of a small lake where ducks had no problems walking righ up to us.
At night we would meet up with my friend and her boyfriend and go out in Downtown Memphis on Beale Street. We went to the Peabody and watched the world famous Peabody Ducks and took a carriage ride downtown. I got to again indulge in the delicious fried pickles which I first discovered down there.
Then Sunday came, and we had to go home. The flight home wasn't nearly as bad. I wrapped myself around Sheri's arm and put my head on her shoulder. I kept my breathing steady and clasped on to her hand. The past few days had felt like a whirlwind and that they were over in the blink of an eye.
It wasn't all perfect. There were some moments of tension between Sheri and I and I'm sure a massive fight could have erupted but I am glad that we did keep ourselves in check. Nothing would have embarrassed me more than fighting with her in front of my friend who finally met her but had known us through all of our ups and downs.
It was an amazing trip overall. It was good that Sheri and my best friend met and got along as well as they did and I am so thankful that she did take this trip to Memphis with me...and then would later take it again...
As previously mentioned one of my best friends had moved back to her home-city of Memphis in Oct of 2006. I had gone to visit her twice in 2007 and I was itching to go back but I wanted Sheri to come with me and finally meet my friend. After our failed attempt at therapy she had said that we could go but kept putting it off hoping that I'd eventually just drop the subject or all together forget.
Ha, silly girl.
One day I had finally had enough and I told her that I am going to pick a weekend to go to Memphis and buy the tickets and there was nothing she could do about it. Up until that point I had never asked anything from her, I had been trying to regain her trust in me for over a year, and I was REALLY tired of meeting nothing but a brick wall sitting on top of a roadblock overlapping a speed bump...and lined with barbed wire. I had said very sternly that we're going to Memphis whether she likes it or not.
She reluctantly said yes but I didn't care, I was going on vacation with my girlfriend and visiting my best friend. I booked our trip at a beautiful Hilton Hotel right on Poplar Ave.
The morning of our flight came and ladies, I am not a pretty flyer. I have horrible panic attacks on the plane and normally have to drug myself before I even walk into the airport. We had gotten a car service because I like to fly early so we have the entire day to get settled and perhaps go out a bit. I'm getting ready at my house which in my language means throwing on yoga pants, a zipper up hoodie, and sneakers. My thinking is if the plane is going to crash I best be wearing something I can run away from the wreckage in.
The car was supposed to pick me up at 7. I had taken a shower the night prior so I could sleep in until 6:40. Sheri starts calling/texting me a little after 6:15 that they're already on their way. Ok...she lives about 40 minutes away from me, I still have time. 5 minutes later she texts me "We're getting off the parkway..."
Shit!
Another 10 minutes later "We're getting off of 80..."
DOUBLE SHIT! It's supposed to take 40 minutes! So far he's going to take 25!
I'm texting her back "Tell him to slow down!"
She's laughing and says "He's flying down the road! We're probably averaging 85."
I'm scrambling to get ready, do some last minute packing, brush my teeth, put my hair up, put some sort of makeup on so I don't look like the walking dead and Sheri's texting me at about 6:30 "Be there in 5."
CRAP!
They pull into my driveway and I'm still running around like a chicken without a head. I lived with my parents so Sheri is in the house trying to help me carry my luggage out. We had left on a Wednesday morning so my mother is getting ready for work. The way my house is set up is my parents' room, computer room, and their seperate bathroom is on the 3rd floor. My bedroom along with two other bedrooms and seperate bathroom are on the 2nd floor with the main living area on the 1st floor. My bathroom is at the bottom of the staircase between the 2nd and 3rd floor and their bathroom is at the top so they have to walk across the hallway to get from their bedroom to their bathroom.
If you can picture that in your head, kudos to you!
So I'm in my bedroom throwing toiletries in a bag to put in my suitcase and Sheri walks into my roomand looks like she had just seen a ghost. "What's wrong? I asked.
She closes her eyes tight and shakes her head "I don't wanna talk about it."
"Babe..."
"Your mother just walked from her bedroom to her bathroom...wearing nothing but a towel across her shoulders."
I clasped my hand over my mouth to stifle my laughter. I love my mother to bits but she is not a tiny woman.
"I swear, I'm scarred for life," Sheri says as she shudders.
"What are you laughing at?" I hear my mother call down from upstairs.
Sheri's eyes grow wider and shakes her head "no" back and forth to not say anything.
"Nothing Mom!" I shout back up to her. I figured my mother would be mortified if she knew Sheri saw her in her birthday suit.
She comes down, clothed, and gives us hugs and wishes us well. We dash out the door and are on our way to the airport.
"I will forever have that image burned into my brain."
I patted Sheri's knee and told her she'll survive. I on the other hand am already rooting through my purse for my xanax. I can feel the panic start to bubble in my chest and as our driver nearly takes the wrong highway I start to tear up. Sheri has NO idea what to do with me when I cry so she starts vigorously rubbing my back going "Ooooohhh don't cry! It's ok! Please don't cry!!"
I'm trying to take deep breaths to calm myself down and 20 minutes later we pull up to the airport. Panic has been replaced by excitement that I will be able to fly with my girlfriend. I walk through the airport like I own the joint and we find our gate and sit and wait. We have about an hour until our plane boards so we grab a little breakfast. At this point I take my Dramamine because in case I haven't mentioned I also get horrible motion sickness in planes. Remember my plane fiasco the second time I went to Memphis? I had vertigo for nearly a month after all of that landing and taking off.
It comes time to board the plan and the planes to Memphis are reaaally tiny. It's one and two seats and God forbid if you stand up your head nearly touches the roof. When we sit I feel the panic start to rise again and my body becomes flush and I put all of the air nozzles on full force pointed directly at my face so I can breathe. I have my head back, hands gripping the armrests. Every jolt, every movement I'm praying to God we don't crash. Sheri breaks my concentration with "Are you OK?"
My eyes flash open and they're brimmed with tears. "Do I look OK??" I choke out.
"Not really. You'll be OK. Look, we're getting ready to take off." And she starts rubbing my back again which is doing nothing but annoying me.
As we rumble down the runway I hear the flaps moving to prepare for takeoff. Instant water works. I elbow Sheri and try to motion for her to get me another pill of xanax but she has no idea what I'm asking for. "What? Do you want water? Do you want a piece of gum? What do you want I don't know what you're looking for!"
"Oh forget it!" I yell out as I bend down and rifle through my bag and pop a xanax.
The woman diagonally behind us calmly says "Oh it's alright dear, I can tell you're not a good flyer."
Gee lady, what tipped you off?
"I can sing for you if you'd like. I don't sing well so it'll definately make you take your mind off of it." And she breaks out into some horrible like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star tune. I can do nothing but laugh and it does for a few seconds take my mind off the fact that I have gone from the ground to ten thousand feet in the air in a matter of a minute.
After we level out the flight attendant comes around with the drink cart. "I'll have the wine please." I say without her even asking. I don't care if it is 9 in the morning-I don't fly well! Don't judge me!
After I down the wine like it's a shot I put my headphones on, grab Sheri's hand, and close my eyes. I feel the warmth of calm, or possibly the wine and xanax, wash over me. Every few minutes I nod awake and notice that my mouth is hanging open and that I must look quite silly. But who the hell cares, at least I'm not crying.
Two and a half hours later we land in Memphis and I could kiss the ground I'm so happy to be on it. We immediately go to our hotel and christen the room. There truly isn't anything better than loud, wild, monkey vacation sex. We lay there naked with her fingers tracing up the curves of my body and I have a contented smile painted on my face. That night when deciding what to have for dinner Sheri said she actually had a surprise for me. We got dressed up and headed down Poplar Ave where I tried to quiz her on where we were going. She would just hold my hand and say "Don't worry, it's a surprise."
About 2 miles down the road Sheri pulls into a parking lot where I see "Ruth's Chris Steakhouse." This is one of our favorite restaurants and I jump for absolute joy. She's smiling at me and I said "What did you do?!"
"I went online and found out this was right up the road from our hotel so I made reservations to surprise you."
I clapped excitedly as my mouth started watering for the Pitete Filet and Caramel Appletini that I would be consuming within a matter of minutes.
The few days we were down there were amazing. We went to the Memphis Zoo where I ran around looking at the animals like I was 7 years old. We even were able to watch the Sea Lion show where I clapped louder than everyone.
One day we went to the botannical gardens down there in hopes to see the Butterly Garden. Little did we realize that while things were still coming to life in New Jersey it was already summer down in Memphis. All of the flowers and plants were dead, there was not a butterfly to be found. We still walked and imagined what could have been there and did enjoy the fact that we nearly had the whole place to ourselves. We saw little turtles race across open fields, the biggest Koi pond ever where they would follow you from one side to another because they knew humans meant food. We also sat on a bench in front of a small lake where ducks had no problems walking righ up to us.
At night we would meet up with my friend and her boyfriend and go out in Downtown Memphis on Beale Street. We went to the Peabody and watched the world famous Peabody Ducks and took a carriage ride downtown. I got to again indulge in the delicious fried pickles which I first discovered down there.
Then Sunday came, and we had to go home. The flight home wasn't nearly as bad. I wrapped myself around Sheri's arm and put my head on her shoulder. I kept my breathing steady and clasped on to her hand. The past few days had felt like a whirlwind and that they were over in the blink of an eye.
It wasn't all perfect. There were some moments of tension between Sheri and I and I'm sure a massive fight could have erupted but I am glad that we did keep ourselves in check. Nothing would have embarrassed me more than fighting with her in front of my friend who finally met her but had known us through all of our ups and downs.
It was an amazing trip overall. It was good that Sheri and my best friend met and got along as well as they did and I am so thankful that she did take this trip to Memphis with me...and then would later take it again...
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