Ah. Back from the coast. 4 days away, which I must say felt pretty good. Not too stressful, for the most part.

We were off on the Sunshine Coast (what a laugh, no frigging sunshine to be seen) for the wedding of T's son. Yes, he has 2 sons old enough - just barely - to be married. In fact, the one who got married is also having a baby in March. I wanted to stand up during the ceremony and shout out "Wait. You can't get married. You're only eleven." Even though I'm not really old enough to be their mother or anything (unless I started out when I was REALLY young), it makes me feel horribly old to realize that in a couple of months, I'm going to be a step-grandmother. I've made it clear that NO ONE is to call me "Grandma", on pain of death.

The wedding was pretty nice, although the ceremony itself was fairly stoggy and Catholic (the bride's parents being stoggy Catholics and all). Not that I think all Catholicism is stoggy, just this particular wedding. It was an excellent chance to catch up with several members of his family. His mother and younger brother came up from California, and we hadn't seen them in four years. It was nice hanging out with them, and I get along really well with my brother-in-law and we had a hoot, except for the part where my Dad started in on him about Bush and the war and all that shit. The poor man didn't even have a chance to get a word in edge-wise. The next morning, I forbid my father to discuss politics again for the rest of the weekend.

The weird part was that I felt so much more at home, for the most part, hanging out with my step-sons and their friends than I did with my husband and family. Partially the age thing, of course, but also ... I don't know quite what. More fun, I suppose.

The trip itself was nice - flying in to Comox, on the island, and then taking the ferry across to Powell River. A very pretty trip. And the place we were all staying was nice. Right on the water, you could hear the waves lapping against the rocks at night. Wild and beautiful and peaceful. I slept a lot. Nine hours a night most nights, which felt glorious. And even some naps in between. I guess I needed it. It rained the entire time we were there, except for this morning, when it was sunny, but cool. The ferry ride back to Comox was nice, with the sun shining off the water. I spent some time out on the deck by myself, just enjoying the air, that slight taste of salt on your lips.

And now we're back home, and it's freezing cold and snowing and just gross. Within moments of stepping off the plane, I could feel my body beginning to react to the dryness of this damned city. My hair started getting all staticy and my pants started sticking to my legs. I could just feel myself drying up. Not a nice feeling at all. If my friends and my job could just transport out there, I could happily live on the coast. I know some people find the constant rain and grey skys in the winter depressing, but I sure like the moisture better.

Anyhow, the break was good. It's been so long since I had a holiday, even a mini one, that I forgot how good it feels to have time on your hands and very little in the way of an agenda. I slept, read, knitted, visited. Now I'm really, really looking forward to 2 weeks in Mexico in January.