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Welcome to the DebiLyn Smith blog site. If you like what you read here, check out her website at www.debilynsmith.com

Monday, May 9, 2011

Back To Normal...Almost




The sun is so hot in Costa Rica that although we feel tanned and still use a 30 SPF, we burn. You have to live in the pool between one and three in the afternoon or else you fry. This is not a problem as the wet bar has lots of water and I have a big brimmed hat that doesn't mind getting wet. We play volleyball and do aerobics in the water so we keep busy.
There are massage tables set up on the beach and for $30 I received ninety minutes of bliss. They even sand scrub your feet and legs before washing them off to continue. All part of the detox regime, I tell myself!
We snorkel on our beach and also enjoy a day trip to even better snorkeling, caving and bottom fishing with a line and fresh bait and a BBQ picnic on the beach.

The week is relaxing even though I insist we march up the hill from the beach to the hotel instead of taking the packed shuttle that passes by us every fifteen minutes. They wave each time. I concentrate on what dessert I will award myself with when I reach the food "trough" at the next meal at this all-inclusive.

The week passes quickly and before we know it we're trying to cram everything back into our suitcases. I think the high humidity has weighted my clothes? They seem heavier , wider, more dense. I make up a bag for "charity" that I leave behind for the maid to sort out. Without a scale its hard to tell where I'm at weight wise so every bit counts.

We survive four flights from Liberia, Costa Rica to Vancouver, Canada via Houston Texas, Los Angeles and San Francisco. With having to touch down in the United States we are subjected to a ninety minute line through customs before facing another line to get our suitcases through, then we must go through security again. Yes, even the full body scanner. I hope my scars were smiling! We have to run to make our second flight as they are boarding while we are still removing our shoes and belts. We make it but worry our suitcases won't be as able to keep up with this pace.
We land in Los Angeles and have a whole fifty minutes for a bathroom break and to decide what to buy for a take-out lunch. Back on yet another plane. The difference this time is Barry had a few minutes to spare and got our "usual" back-of-the-bus seats changed for "near the back of the bus" seats. No more dealing with the bathroom line-up or the constant roar of the toilet being flushed. We feel like we're in another class!

There is over an hour in San Francisco so we sit down for a drink and watch the planes get pushed back from their terminals to begin their take-off. The sun is hot and triggers multiple hot flashes. I am drinking only water so it can't be that?
Our last flight for the day gets into Vancouver at 10 PM. The customs officer welcomed us home and sent us through without a second look. We are delighted to recognize our two green suitcases which we grab and run for the hotel shuttle.
We overnight and don't have to return to the airport until 4 PM for the last leg North to Smithers/Houston so we have the day to walk a few miles and add another five pounds to the back pack with a new lap top.

We arrive home late and sleep like we haven't slept in three weeks. There really is no place like home. Everything is just how you left it and just how you like it.
What the heck is that? My alarm rattles me awake at 5:25 AM and I leap to dress for circuit training. No putting off returning to my old routine, something I have been apart from for nine months. It feels amazingly good to throw around some weights and run on the treadmill again. Sandi and I do our usual ab routine and twenty minute run outside after the class ends. It's a tough grind but I make it through.
My first day back to my "old life" starts with a doctor's appointment with Sandi who injects me with my second monthly shot of Zoladex. She preps the insert area with a mild anesthetic to numb the area before coming at me with the larger needle that inserts the narcotic beneath my skin where it will continue to work over the next thirty days. It's all over before I can say 'ow." I leap off the examination table and stuff my new white shirt into my jeans.
"Don't you want a band-aid over that?" Sandi asks as we both look down and see the fresh blood stain on my shirt.
I get a band-aid and take the time to spot wash my shirt.
I would say things are very back to normal. Or as normal as they will ever be again!