"I hear that style is all the rage in Greece right now," Speed Racer said with a smile twitching across his lips. I let out a wail of exasperation and the smile on his lips ripped open into a huge laugh. I turned back to my reflection in the mirror. I looked like a mummy. I had gauze wrapped around various parts of my body, with tiny pieces of tape trying to keep them together. I frowned, and that just sent Speed Racer over the edge. Pretty soon he was going to be on his hands and knees laughing too hard to breathe. "It's not funny," I said, trying to keep a genuine pout on my face, but I couldn't help but laugh too. I was covered, head to toe, in poison oak...on our anniversary.
On Friday when I was thinking about this post, I thought I would make it another of our "How Did I get Here" series, and it would be a romantic post about Speed Racer and I's anniversary and undying love for each other. And while that post still may appear later in the week...right now I am itching so bad and laughing that I just can't bring myself to do it.
The problem started last Saturday when I decided that our front flower beds needed to be cleaned out. Speed Racer was out claiming car parts, and I thought what a great wifey it would make me look like if I tackled it and got it done by the time he got back. It went just fine until I got to our maple tree.
I hit that thing like a hurricane from hell...pulling weeds this way and that...until I realized what I held was poison oak. I had gloves on, thank God, but it was too late the damage was done. At that moment I had a choice, and I'm going to admit folks, I chose wrong. I got this trait from my Mom that once I start working on a project, I have to finish it, even if I should stop. So instead of stopping and cleaning up, I tried to just power through until I had it done and could then go clean up.
Once I had finished I rushed into our downstairs laundry room and tore off my clothes, dumping them in the washing machine with some very hot water. I raced up stairs to the bathroom and doused myself in rubbing alcohol. I took a hot shower scrubbing every part of me with soap several times. By the end of the day, I had no bumps...I had come in victorious, or so I thought until Friday.
Friday rolled around and little bumps started to pop up on my skin. At first I thought I had just gotten some bug bites while I was outside the night before. Then those bumps, turned into blisters, weeping, burning, itching, wish you could cut off that appendage blisters. I tried to play it cool, it was just one spot after all, right? Right? Wrong. Pretty soon I had clusters of these on my legs, then on my abdomen, then on my side, then on my chest, then on my elbow spreading up to my wrist. It would be ok, I told myself. It would go away soon, I covered it up with band aids. But that just made it worse. The adhesive on the band aids just angered the sensitive skin in the area, so now I had blisters and raw angry skin.
I finally gave in and showed Speed Racer. He looked at me like I had the plague, like I was an infected Zombie. He began to avoid all physical contact for fear of becoming infected. Perfect, just what I wanted on our anniversary.
Saturday, I woke up mummified, but feeling ok. Speed Racer was not in the bed next to me, and as I started to get up the door opened and he came in with a breakfast tray. French toast, cherries, strawberries, syrup, and home-made whip cream...the man knows how to do breakfast right. We decided we hit the road and try to find something fun and relaxing to do. I could go into this part of our anniversary but really it involves several main aspects for you to get the gist of the afternoon: it was hot, there were lots of people, a semi purposefully tried to hit us, wherever we went we were in traffic for hours. We tried to make it fun, but no matter where we went, we were fun blocked. It wasn't our fault. The best part of the day was the breakfast in bed, and then a cute little lunch place we found that had a screened in porch overlooking the smokies. So we decided we needed a do over...Sunday would be our do over.
Sunday turned out great, Speed Racer got a few things done around the house. We went down to the Crown and Goose, our favorite brunch spot. Came back, took a fun ride in the Triumph Spitfire and got a slushy. Then had some friends over for grilling out. It was a pretty perfect day. As the night was winding down, Speed Racer surprised me by sneaking out to get one of my favorite deserts, fantastic Carrot Cake, from a local restaurant. We did the dishes while we listened to the playlist from our wedding, dancing and singing along the whole time.
The night ended perfectly as we lay in bed, and Speed Racer leaned over, trying not to touch my poison oak infested body, and kissed me gently, telling me how much he loved me, even if I looked horribly grotesque with blisters all over my body. Ah, Amore. It really can't get any better than that.
I am so lucky to have these two in my life. We call them Speed Racer's adopted Grandparents. They're not Grandparents by blood but they have been an integral part of his life since he was born. I have loved getting to know these two and being accepted as one of the family.
