Ahhhh . . .

I'm lying luxuriously in a king-sized bed in a spacious guest room with a large window looking out onto a warm and sunny Las Angeles morning. Ah, yes . . . this is what the word "recreation" really means. I'm tapping into our host's wireless connection (they said I could) with my laptop, checking e-mail, writing letters, and all kinds of things. There's food stocked in the fridge and a bunch of bathrooms and cats and this dog that decided to be my best friend and frequently lavish me with large deposits of slobber on my jeans (it's one of those wrinkly ones).

We went to Medieval Times when we first got here. That was an amazing show--lots of good food and our knight was the youthful and virile knight . . . or was it the youthful and valiant knight . . . oh. well, it doesn't really matter because he was all of the above. It was fun to root for the knights while they fought and we ate: yay *munch munch munch* yamph *munch munch.*

And then, of course, there was Disney Land. I'm afraid it exceeded my expectations. That place is huge! I was hyper over stimulated (to use a Vieve and I term). And whoever could have warned me about Space Mountain and DIDN'T is DEAD!!! DEAD I TELLYOU!!! We went on every scary ride there was and the girls fought over who could sit next to me because they said it was half the experience to watch my screaming, writhing antics. I'm not a DQ. I was just the only one who was almost killed on every ride!!! EVEN SMALL WORLD!!! All four of us had so much fun. We did get to shop some and I found soooo much I wanted to buy for people. I came back with a placemat from Medieval Times. Hi, my name is Mary. I am cheap. *Hi Mary--clap clap*

There is one last thing to say about Disney Land besides the outrageous amount of way-too-cute men (they should only let so many into a theme park at a time so as not to put us poor, sheltered girls on overload). Anyway, my last comment on Disney Land is this: you may say you love kids, you may say you hate them. But nothing tells the truth more than going to Disney Land and standing in line for HOURS with them. You WILL go one of the two ways--and only then will you know the truth!

So we go home today, back to work and war and things that we have no control over. But I can't tell you how blessed I've been. I've never done anything like this with friends before--or with anyone before. (: I still believe that whether or not I have fun is up to me and my outlook on things. But sometimes it helps to have fun surrounding you in such concentrated forms that your spirit is elevated to a level where misery is impossible--or seems so for the time being. Ok, Marci's chatting with her bf on the phone again so I'll go get my shower and a leisurely breakfast and seeyall later!!!