After a week of her absence, every aspect of life involving Elise seems like an adventure. Let’s cook rice! Let’s light candles! Let’s go for a walk!
Okay!
The dizzying newness of every trip up the stairs to see the light on in her office only serves to emphasize the advice I received from my-former / Elise’s-new co-worker Dan: a couple needs to vacation together and apart.
Since I had Bonnaroo in June and we had St. Louis together in July, Elise was suffering from a one-vacation handicap. She needed time away from me to have an adventure, and I needed time to shuffle around the house and pretend to be a bachelor. With her returned from San Francisco it feels as though our balance has been reset.
Our walk this afternoon took us through the Italian Market*, and afterwards past Pat’s and Geno’s** to wander down Passyunk to find a fabled Mexican restaurant with excellent margaritas.
It had been fabled by an old professor of mine who, apparently, has only a relative sense of location. We didn’t have directions, or the name of the restaurant, but he told us that we would have arrived when we were able to see a mural, a parking lot, and the Mexican restaurant all at the same time.
We came to such a point, and were faced with a drab Mexican restaurant with multi-colored blankets in the windows. It did not look like the home of excellent margaritas.
“Do you think that’s the place he was raving about?”
“Well, consider the source.”
The source being my motorcycle-riding, monochromatic- dressing, ponytailed senior project advisor.***
“Well, i suppose…”
Elise tapped on my shoulder. I turned to regard her and noticed that we were standing in front of a giant orange slab of a building with no sign and a huge wooden door.**** It looked like it needed a moat.
“Yeah, that’s probably it.”
Indeed, it was. And, not only were the margaritas excellent, so were the mojitos. Several drinks later I learned how to use Elise’s new camera, and bit my poor drunken tongue so badly that we thought I would need stitches.
It’s nice to be having adventures together, again.
* Note to self: The Italian Market is a ghost town by two on a Sunday. Start getting out of bed before one.
** Note to the internet: No Philadelphian who enjoys cheesestakes would ever eat at Pat’s or Geno’s. They are for tourists and people in South Philly who don’t know any better. If you want a good cheesesteak go to Jim’s or Tony Luke’s. Trust me.
***Yes, essentially my father as a communications professor (except i don’t think prof owns several dozen rifles).
**** Name, undetermined. It’s just above Morris on Passyunk, and both we and Prof. Steggy highly recommend it.
Hah. Quite the adventure. I figure I’d drop in and read a line or so and check up on the writing of yours.
But that’s very cute. I don’t know what “that” is referring to, exactly.. but everything.. So, I guess what I meant to say was, “everything in this entry was very cute.”
(Elise is beautiful, by-the-by..
and I’m sure you are too!)
p.s. Pittsburgh isn’t as hip on cheesesteak, I don’t think.
But I’ve had some good ones over here, too!
And there you go.
-Sara
Hey Philly Boy!
Damn you make me homesick! You know you can’t even get a decent cheesesteak or hoagie in Greensboro, NC?! Isn’t that criminal?!
And, BTW, you’ve been tagged! Go see today’s entry on my blog for details!
Maxim and I do a couple of little three- or four-day jaunts solo a couple times a year. Feeds the soul, and I wake up missing him and the kids fiercely by about the third day. He went to Suwanee for their biannual music fest in October and even came back a day early because he’d had his fill of Alone.
It’s important to remember who you are as an individual; that individual is what drew your partner in the first place. Spending a bit of time apart sharpens the edges of that back up nicely.
Congrats on learning it early on. Co-worker is indeed brilliant.