The honeymoon.

Our unforgettable reception was over, we survived the worst limo ride back to the hotel (I won't get into it, but needless to say there was yelling and incompetence involved), partied with more friends at Lux Bar, brought the party back to the penthouse suite, and finally turned in at God knows what hour.

So: now what?

We enjoyed a Sunday in the city, which was mostly spent recovering. I had no hangover, as I had never actually gotten drunk. This could not be said for the majority of our guests, whom we saw in various states of disrepair at the brunch that Elaine had thrown us. My injuries were mostly of the dancing nature, Meg's were of the "wearing a bridal gown all night and then falling asleep in it, plus dancing" nature. We saw a ton of family that day, especially the out-of-towners. Same could be said for that Monday, where we had to bid adieu to that incredible (and free!) penthouse suite.

Cabo San Lucas was Tuesday. People have asked me what we did. Some people understand how happy I am when I say, "not a whole lot." Others don't get it, as though we should've done more tourist-y stuff. These people (mostly) have never had a wedding before. The point is this: we busted our humps for a year and a half, stressed and stressed, overthought things and underslept, and generally were on edge. So the idea of sitting poolside, reading books, tanning, drinking and doing nothing, was looking pretty good. (And hell, even if we WANTED to do more tourist-y stuff, we didn't have a dime to spend on it!)

Of course, our vacation wasn't that relaxing at first. We were supposed to have a shuttle pick us up from the Mexican airport, but lo and behold we were not on their list. And if you've never been, know this: everyone is trying to sell you something and they all call you "friend." They are not actually your friend. I know this because I told them to leave me alone, and they wouldn't. Friends don't do that.

After waiting an hour for them to load a sweltering shuttle beyond capacity, we made our way to the resort, where we would spend the bulk of our honeymoon. Great place, but they do try very hard to get you to do one of those 90 minute time share buying seminars. I haven't boned up on my Espanol in awhile, but I'm pretty sure no means no in either language.

But once we got settled in, we were free to adjust to the idea of doing nothing. Well, maybe not entirely nothing. One thing I did was draw. I know what you're thinking; "Foul! That's what you do for your job, you can't do it on vacation!" To which I say, I haven't done the kind of drawing that I did for a loonng time. Life drawing. And I had a pretty fine model, although she had a bad habit of moving when I needed her to stay still the most.



I drew three portraits of my wife, read nearly two books (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire), rode a horse along the beach, went jogging along the same beach, drank and smoked cigars, got a swedish massage, witnessed a brutal car accident, and hung out with a hilarious towel boy named Armand. We pretty much stayed on the resort all week, taking in the entertainment (which wasn't all that great, except for the fire dancers on the beach), and eating our meals all-inclusive style.

We had such a great run of fun and relaxing days, something had to go wrong eventually. Meg got sick on the last day, which started off okay because she was in such a good mood that it almost didn't matter. Then we made a mistake. We realized that we hadn't done a shot of tequila during our whole trip in Mexico, and decided to correct that. Bad idea. We bumped into this married couple at the bar, whom we had been talking to most of the week. One thing led to another, and pretty soon there's multiple shots of random liquors, beer flowing, and drunken dancing. We got up to our hotel room just barely, and when we woke up the next morning, there was much suffering. And we had a flight to catch in about four hours. Longest flight ever, and I swore off drinking for awhile after that.

But ultimately, we got exactly what we needed. A nice break from reality, and a cherry on top of one of the best times of our life together. Now that we're in the thick of it again, it helps sometimes to think back on October of 2010. I'm sure I'll be doing it often.