Unwanted Souvenirs

Sometimes you go on vacation and come back with souvenirs.  Special things that remind you of the lovely time you had whenever you look at them.  I didn't stop and buy anything special at any little curio shops this weekend, but I did manage to come back with few unwanted souvenirs- painful or embarrassing little reminders that there are some lessons I still haven't learned.

Unwanted Souvenir #1: The Sunburn from Hell
I have the worst sunburn I have ever had in my entire life.  On my shins.  Strange?  Yes.  I didn't bother to put a lot of (read: any) sunscreen on my shins, because shins don't customarily burn to a crisp.  I'm regretting my carelessness now.  Seriously, if I didn't know any better, I would swear someone managed to dip the bottom half of my legs into hell while I wasn't looking and the fiery remnants are still clinging to them.  Yesterday I couldn't do a whole lot more than just hobble around, wincing and whining.  Every once in a while, when I try to stand upright, it feels as if there's suddenly too much blood and muscle between my knees and my ankles, and not enough skin to hold it all.  I get this incredibly painful, tight, pinching feeling and then my calves involuntarily just stop working.  The moral of the story?  Apply sunscreen.  Liberally and fervently.  On every part of your body that the sun might, possibly, conceivably reach.

Ouch!

Unwanted Souvenir #2:  Leftovers in Unlikely Places
We ate lunch, an incredibly yummy lunch, at Boudro's on the riverwalk.  It's become one of our favorite places to eat in San Antonio, not least because of the Louisiana Bread Pudding, which is to die for.  It is ridiculously rich, deliciously dense, and it comes drenched in this whiskey butter sauce that brings the whole thing to a level of perfection rarely reached by either man or food.  It was scrumptious, and we gobbled it right up.  So imagine my surprise when on the drive, halfway between San Antonio and Waco, I brushed my fingers through my hair and found the biggest glob of whiskey butter sauce fully dried and caked into it. The lesson here?  When hair reaches below shoulder level, always pull it back before consuming sticky-sweet, delectable desserts.

Unwanted Souvenir #3: Day-After Drag
I had a lovely, wonderful time this weekend.  I came back yesterday, loose and relaxed and refreshed, ready to tackle the challenges of a brand new week at work.  But today, I'm experiencing lag and drag beyond the typical Monday blues.  Maybe it's the obscene quantities of delicious food and drinks slowing me down.  Or maybe it's just harder to face reality after ignoring it so completely for the last couple of days.  Whatever the explanation, I find myself drifting toward fantasy-land, staring wistfully out of the window, reminiscing about our weekend and planning the next great adventure.  I'm a little tired, a little sore, and more than a little disgruntled at having to be at work today.  Final take-home from today's ruminations?  All good things must come to an end.

But we can always look forward to the next one...