Vacation Days

We went to Baltimore last week. Time to meet more of my friends and to see the town where I lived many years. A chance to also have a real vacation. A city of good climate and lots of water, crabs and art and the Inner Harbor. We stayed with friends, ate a lot, visited new restaurants and art museums, talked about art and music and books and argued about the process of intellectual focus and how insight occurs. The timing was chosen carefully. We left three days after chemo so John had some energy again. I warned our hosts that we’d move more slowly than usual. We planned the itinerary so he could nap and read. It worked well. I had time to play and shop and talk privately with my friends. One morning I got up early and went to an AA meeting with our host. I was invited to speak and I talked about gratitude and how extravagant the Promises really are.

John and I took a whole day to ourselves and covered the Inner Harbor. We ate mussels at Bertha’s, looked at the locations and sets for Homicide and The Wire, took water taxis back and forth to see the city from the water and to see Fort McHenry and Federal Hill. We toured the exhibits at the Museum of Visionary Art and ate ice cream resting our feet and people watching at the Light Street pavilion. The next day we shopped in Hamden and looked at antiques and sampled sweets in a store that sells shoes and chocolate. Then we went to see the Orioles at Camden Yards Ball Park. The Orioles won. I danced and laughed at the seventh inning stretch. There were fireworks after the game and we sat to ohh and ahhh. The trudged back to the light rail to ride home. Our last day we had breakfast of homemade yogurt and fruit and coffee at Carma’s Café near Hopkins and then went to the Baltimore Museum of Art and looked at the Cone sisters collection and wondered about the balancing of form and content and how important is or isn’t to know the context and history in evaluating a work of art.

A last Baltimore treat of French fries and bread pudding-- and a handsome waiter in Bermudas and cowboy boots --at Donna’s on Charles Street then onto the airport.

It was vacation and relaxing and stimulating and filled with friends and memories and seeing Baltimore through his eyes. He met some of the most important people in my life and they met the “new man” in mine. It seemed so normal and was so much fun.