Our weekend away

Well, it finally happened. My wife and I got some time to ourselves. We hardly knew what to do with ourselves. But after some conversations regarding our first year of dating, we finally arrived at the crux of the matter. We got our books out and read blissfully in the quiet of the hot tub.

Well, that's not all we did. We did go out to eat once or twice. Overall, we had a great time. We got to talk in adult language, not the swearing kind of adult language but the kind that discusses the realities of the world around us in words that have more than two syllables.

We didn't go far, just down to Columbus and got us a room for two nights at the Hilton Garden Inn. Very pleasant people, wonderful duvet on the bed, quite comfortable overall. It was a very quiet weekend for us which is exactly what we needed.

We checked in on Friday and went across the road to eat at Molly Woo's, an Asian Bistro. Sheila had the Pineapple Chicken and I had the Triple Delight Big Bowl which had beef, chicken and shrimp in it. I was expecting it to be spicier than it was but it was still quite tasty. After that we stopped in at Barnes & Nobles and bought a couple books, Jeffrey Deaver's book of short stories called "More Twisted" and "False Impression" by Jeffrey Archer. We always look at the discount shelf in there so we got two Jeffrey's for the price of one. Then it was back to the room for some quiet time together.

We had a wonderful breakfast in the hotel and after some time reading again in the hot tub we went back across the road and walked around the mall, people watching and looking for signs of the struggling economy. Sure didn't see any at the Polaris Mall. Them folks were looking fit to kill. Then it was back to the hotel, another dip in the hot tub, ordered an early dinner from Charley's Grilled Subs, and then ordered a movie for us to watch on the TV. Sheila had been wanting to see Twilight and I like seeing Sheila smile so we ordered Twilight.

Had a lazy morning this morning as we gathered our things up and waited til about 11 to check out. We would have waited til 12 but we wanted to eat at the Cheesecake Factory across the road and we wanted to beat the church rush. We ordered way too much and brought about half of it home. I do believe that I could go the next three days without eating and not even feel hungry.

But we had some fun while in The Cheesecake Factory. Our family likes to carry on fictional conversations just loud enough for those around us to over hear. Sometimes we get some looks, sometimes not. We sat at a fairly small table today and there were two college age girls sitting at the table next to us. Very close. I decided it was time for some fun. In a bit of a louder voice, I told Sheila that I was a little frustrated. Why she asks, not knowing right then where I was going.

"Two months ago I flew over in the jet to the house in Tuscany and the caretaker is just not keeping things up the way I'd like him to. All I ask is that he have the house ready for us in case we show up unannounced. I don't think that's too much to ask. He doesn't have to care for the pool, or the stables, or even help out in the vineyard. He just has to keep the house ready. And it's not like it's that big of a house anyway. It's only 15 rooms with 6 bedrooms. I mean, come on. If he can't do that on a hundred thousand a year, maybe we should find someone else."

And Sheila jumped right in. "Would you like me to have a talk with him next month after Hana and I leave London? He seems to listen to me a little better."

"That'd be fine. If you think you can get him to listen to you. If not, tell Luigi we want him to find someone else. He was recommended by Luigi in the first place. I think it only fair that he look for his replacement. And while you're in London, please, please, do not buy me any more suits. I've got thirty or more hanging in the closet right now and I really don't care to wear them that much. Just let me dress down like I like to. Why pay 4 grand for a suit that I'm never gonna wear?"

"Fine. I won't buy you anymore suits. But Charles on Savile Row is going to be disappointed to not see you anymore."

"Charles will be disappointed to not see my money anymore."

And it went on from there. We talked about Sheila's race horse that was recovering at the best vet hospital in the country and the fact that it was worth flying her out to San Diego to have her taken care of. We talked about Hana putting a scratch on the Ferrari and that she would only be allowed to drive the BMW or the Hummer from here on, or at least until she learned to be responsible. We discussed the call that I received from our accountant stating that Ben had overspent his monthly clothing allowance again, this time by about $10,000. Such a clothes horse, that Ben. We talked about the meeting that I would be having on Monday with the Columbus mayor and the Ohio governor and that this would hopefully wrap up our business in town and we could fly home on Wednesday at the latest and how nice it would be to get home to the "islands".

It seemed that the two girls sitting next to us had somewhat of a difficult time carrying on their own conversation. I would hate to think they might have been eavesdropping.

Heh Heh.