Jamaica, Here We Come – Thoughts from June 11 and 12, 2023

June 11, 2023

Here we sit in the LAX airport. It’s about 9:30 pm and our flight is at about 11:30 pm. Who is this “we” you speak of? This might be your question if this is your first ever Thoughts paper you’ve read from this Brian guy. Brian is one of the we and Patti is the other. We’re both on our laptops. Patti is scrolling Facebook and I am … well, you know what I’m doing. We’re on our way to Jamaica. It is our fifth time to the island. We always stay at the Couples Resorts. Actually, one time was part of a cruise. We stayed in progressively bigger resorts, but now we’re going back to the original, smaller resort. I believe this resort is where we saw the most cats. It’s nice to see cats so we don’t miss our cats as much.

I gave Quest, Scout, Willow, Beatrix, and Luna individual goodbyes this morning. I put it to them straight that it would be about two weeks until we saw them again. Since I couldn’t communicate this in cat, I’m unsure if they understood. We were packing our suitcases and some of them were helping. Their form of helping is getting their fur on our stuff before we pack it so part of them goes with us. I’ve been telling people this is the hardest part of going on vacation. We always miss them. Their presence fills every part of my routine. They are with me when I go to the bathroom, watch TV, stretch, eat, and when I come home at night from work. My routine is downright boring without them.

I had my first vacation meal at the airport and the only vacation-like food I had was French fries. They had an Italian hot sauce that I used instead of ketchup. I grew quite fond of it. I weighed this morning, and I was at 193.8 pounds. That’s about the lowest I’ve been recently. On my last vacation, I only gained about 6 pounds. That’s less than my usual 8+ pounds. I’m eating less meat and sugar than I used to because there are more vegan or vegetarian options available. The biggest problem I have is getting too much salt in my food. I don’t salt any of my food regularly so the amount of salt resort restaurants add to their food makes me choke. I almost can’t eat potato chips anymore because of the extreme amount of salt they pile on each chip.

June 12, 2023

It feels like the same day, but it is actually the morning to last night’s entry. I’m exhausted because I can’t sleep on planes. Patti and I had large pillows and blankets, but I didn’t have an actual bed or the ability to lie on my side. I attempted it. My neck still hurts from it. We’re waiting for our next flight from Miami to Jamaica. Miami airport sucks. It’s in the American South as in the home of racism, sexism, and religious fundamentalism. Good thoughts come here to die. Luckily, we don’t have to leave the airport. As I’ve been writing this, Patti has been getting Starbucks. We board in six minutes and Patti is not here. Now, I’m getting nervous.

I was right to be nervous. Patti didn’t get back from getting coffee before they started boarding the plane. Our tickets were for one of the first groups to board, but several other groups numbers were called. I kept looking for Patti but she wasn’t there. My nerves were at an all-time high when she finally showed up. I held myself back from showing her how frazzled I was as best I could. We had to wait behind a good portion of the plan even though we were near the front of the plane. My biggest worry was finding a place for our carry-ons. I had to put our bags back a few rows, which I knew would make it hard to get our bags when we depart the plane later.