This isn't diet or exercise related.. Or even FOOD related. (okay, EVERYTHING is food related in some way or another since we all have to eat, eventually)
It's just that my life is usually so boring, mundane and full of the same old same old with very little joy, that when something nice happens to me, I appreciate it a lot more.
DH and I have been having some problems.. He is having difficulty finding professional employment despite having obtained his master's degree and being only 28. He is foreign, so that may have something to do with it, but it shouldn't be completely prohibitive. Anyway, he's been in a depression, a deep one and it's been wrecking havoc on our relationship. Add to that financial problems, the crappy economy, my issues with my weight, etc. (not a good mix!)In the two years we've been married, we've never gone on vacation or even a day trip.. Not even stayed in a hotel so our whole relationship is just waking up, going to work, coming home, making dinner, sleeping and repeating.. Lack of fun in a relationship is a real "spark" killer - to say the least!
Anyhow, he's been gone for a month visiting the family back in the "motherland" and I've been home working. (he hadn't been back in 2+ years so I didn't mind him going. I couldn't go because I just started a new job, among other things) We had planned to go on a little trip before he left, but that fell through due to weather and finances, and recently, we were planning a trip away when he came back. Nowhere fancy, just somewhere close and "away" where we didn't have the apartment to deal with and a different "scene" to look at.
Anyhow, I struggled like you wouldn't believe to find a place, an inexpensive place (not as bad as a shack on the road, but not over $220/night) at the beach on the East coast, about 2hrs from where we live.. EVERYTHING was booked, basically, except the really costly ones. I found somewhere anyhow, just by pure luck and was getting ready to book it. It was going to cost like $600 before tax for three nights just for the hotel.. We were willing to pay it though since we've never gone anywhere, and we only have the three days and not enough time to fly down to Florida where we could spend a little more, but less per-day and stay a little longer. (we'd want to do at least a week there)
Anyhow, I called my dad to talk to my brother and he asked what was up.. We had a mini-conversation all of about 10 seconds since he and I never talk. (he's fairly emotionally distant and that caused a lot of issues in our family.. He will sometimes complain no one ever calls him but when we do he never wants to talk) Anyhow, I told him we were planning to get away and that we never had and I didn't think much about it and just made plans for the weekend.
Well, my dad called me around 8:00pm and said he had a bunch of AMEX points and he MAY be able to use them to pay for the hotel. I got really excited but also felt bad about it.. We called and it turned out that the points weren't available for that PARTICULAR hotel because it wasn't within their 'preferred partner' organizations. After that, I was like "oh well" because I didn't think to ask that he PAY for them out of pocket. He used to make a ton of money (that's why he had like a million points - literally), but now he's in a lawsuit and selling off properties so I wouldn't have asked, not to mention I'm 25 and past the point of getting away with asking daddy to pay..
Anyhow, my dad said, "that's okay, I'll just pay for it". So, he booked the reservation for us as a little gift because he wanted me to have some fun. My dad isn't the emotional type, and most of the time he acts like he doesn't even know we're alive.. So it was really surprising. It's also more appreciated since it allows us to save up the money we would have spent on hotels for another trip in the future (maybe to his country in November or to Florida or whatever).
I'm just really happy and thankful and excited. It looks like it may rain, but I'm just so excited to go somewhere, anywhere that isn't our apartment! Hopefully DH will get a little lift from it until we can get him to the doctors for some anti-depressant meds. (he got some back in his country, but I don't think they exist here.. It was cheaper to get them there because we don't have insurance.. But now that I realize he IS depressed (I was thinking he was just a grump and a pessimist for a while there!), we'll just have to pay for the doctor out of pocket)
So, tomorrow, it will be picking him up at the airport and heading directly for the beach for a little three day weekend. Hopefully we'll have sunshine and low humidity and he will enjoy himself. Fingers crossed!
