And Travelling is Fun Too!
Posted by Harry

I totally understand what Sally means about finding so much happiness together in otherwise burdensome chores, and that is because of her. I have also found, over the course of the past year, that any travelling I've done with Sally, or any weekend or even daily excursion, has also been a joy, and not fraught with clashing agendas or other sources of friction.

We have recently come back from vacation a couple weeks ago. We were gone for only five days, and the first day, and part of the second day were taken up with my niece's wedding. Our traveling time afterward was pure balm. We drove up through Vermont in very hot weather for New England, and we made the best of an evening in Burlington after settling in a bit late and being tired from driving in the heat. We dined out three nights after the wedding: A fine Thai restaurant in Great Barrington, Massachusetts; a standard seafood restaurant on Lake Champlain in Burlington, Vermont; a nouvelle cuisine restaurant in Woodstock, NY (a favorite town of ours). In each of these places the dining experience was wonderful and transcendent --- not because of the food (which other than the Thai was delicious but not superb) or the ambience --- but because of Sally. Sally and I have always enjoyed dining out and take pleasure in food, wine and conversation, and we have relished a number of equally perfect evenings cooking and dining at home. I know we are not alone in this shared sensual enjoyment, but we also travel well together, even when tired, puzzling over road maps or atlas, and woozy from plummeting blood sugar. It isn't every couple who can claim harmony while traveling. X and I enjoyed traveling together also, but we didn't fare as well in chores.

Perhaps because Sally and I find ample pleasure in chores and everything simple and quotidian, it doesn't surprise me that dining and traveling would be the "icing on the cake." (Mmmm, did someone say, "cake?")