Relaxed As

As I type, my eyes are drifting shut. Molly just brought me some tea, trying to wake me up, and I spilled it all over my chest when I nodded off. I guess it’s gonna take a few days to reacclimate. I’m so tired that random phrases are drifting somewhere near to my consciousness, things like “Throaty Joe’s Voice Choir,” which I think would be a good title for the book I’ll never write.

Here’s the last picture I took in Auckland. There’s a park that we walked through every day that was dotted with fake ruins as though a city had been decimated by earthquake a hundred years ago and then buried by volcanic eruption.

citysculpture

Though I’ve been home only for 24 hours, I’m already feeling a little nostalgic about the trip. Like, remember on the plane to New Zealand when I watched the movie Boy that ended with the Michael Jackson haka that I loved? I went and found it for you on YouTube.

And there was that night at the Riverstone Hostel when we met those wonderful Texans who filled us in on the regionalism “[adjective] as” to mean “extremely [adjective].” If someone is happy about something, they’re likely to say, “Sweet as!” A person who is exceptionally stinky will be described as “stinky as.” Here’s the idiom in action.

The flight departure board at the airport conveyed a “relaxed as” sentiment that amused me.

flightboard

The flight was long—about thirteen hours—but it went by fairly quickly. I was less than pleased when, an hour into the flight, the vacant seat next to me was occupied by a very large woman who’d moved because she was too big for her assigned seat. But she was nice so I forgave her for having thighs and arms that encroached upon my personal space.

I’d like to give you a sense of the scope of our explorations through New Zealand. Here is our path on the North and South Islands. Our journey was extensive as.

north_isle south_isle

When I went through Customs, the agent told me, “Welcome home,” which precipitated a sentimental little moment of, “Yes, this is my home. I like leaving it, but I appreciate it more when I get to come back to it.”

Emmy, Eleni and Jason came over a couple of hours after I got home, and Molly shortly after that, which made me completely blissful. I can’t tell you how great it was to be surrounded by my family. Emmy wanted to take a bath with me so, droopy-lidded, I complied. And this morning, Lulu was the first thing I saw upon awakening, and Emmy and Jason not long after. Who could ask for more. While Jason was at the store, Emmy and I played with the camera. “Take a picture of me holding the toy and laughing,” Emmy said as she positioned herself photogenically and uttered the fakest laugh you’ve ever heard. Then she wanted her turn behind the lens.

gimme

Her sequence of photographs indicate that she was having a hard time understanding the concept of the viewfinder.

reaching

One comment

  1. So funny! I just came in the kitchen to clean up the spill from the glass I was holding as I dozed off….relaxed as! And I noticed the relax directive, too! Love you as much azzzzzzz……

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