We got in the car that morning, him still refusing to tell
me where we were headed. His eyes were twinkling as I kept interrogating him on
the way. He, however, was resolute in telling me where we were headed, despite me performing
my very own home version of the Spanish Inquisition. He insisted that it was a
surprise.
Once we got several miles out of town, I lost my cell phone
signal (cue gasp). Naturally, being the co-dependent individual I am on my
phone, had a meltdown.
“Oh my God Jon, I have no signal and we are out in the
middle of nowhere. What am I going to do????”
He laughed at me as he watched me try to “Lion King” my
phone – you know, holding it up like Raffiki did Simba when presenting him to
the animals – desperately trying to retrieve some type of link up with
humanity.
And nothing.
He giggled at me for 45 minutes…which is right about the
time I gave up.
He said, “This weekend is about us. No Facebook, no texts,
no cell phones. Just us. You’ll be alright.”
“Okay. I trust you,” I mumbled, begrudgingly, resigning
myself to being ‘unplugged’.
Our first stop was “The Apple Store” and not the geeky,
genius bar Apple Store. A little place off the beaten path that had an apple
orchard and baked goods. He ordered us one of his favorite things there, a
turnover. And for a brief second, I was able to retrieve a signal and post
about said mouthgasm. He laughed as I made him go forward in the car and in
reverse, just long enough for me to get my post off into cyberspace.
 |
| Where he told me we were staying... |
About an hour later, we pulled in to where he told me we
were staying. The cabins looked like this. I said nothing. I was in shock. I
mean, afterall, my idea of “roughing it” was a two star bed and breakfast. The
place he took me was a truck stop/cabin I-don’t-even-know-what. I swallowed the
lump in my throat and closed my eyes and he walked in the office to “check in”.
I kept saying to myself, “Give it a chance, Shauna, it might not be that bad.”
He emerged from the office moments later, and doubled over
with laughter. He got back in the car and said, “I’m not going to make us stay
here, I just had to see what you would do. We are staying somewhere else.”
“You ASSHOLE!” I exclaimed. “I was in the car freaking out…and….REALLY????”
We both laughed for the next hour in the car, where we got
to our actual destination…a little resort in deep in the Hill Country, with
beautiful cabins on the mountains.
After we checked in, we sat on the porch and watched the
sunset. It was beautiful and serene. We even had a little feline visitor who
quickly became our friend.
 |
| Where we actually stayed... |
That night, we went downstairs, had dinner and sat out next
to the humongous fire pit. We ended the night in the cabin, listening to music
as he tried teaching me how to dance.
It was perfect.
The next day, we got up early, had breakfast and went hiking
all day in Lost Maples. It was an amazing trip.
And, that Sunday night, as we drove closer to San Antonio,
we both admitted that we didn’t want to go back -- even if only part of it was in both of our heads....we got to a point where we just "understood" the other. Because when it was just us,
when there wasn’t anyone else in the way, everything was perfect. As we walked
back into the fire, we both said we would try and do better.
We are, however, only human….and we didn't.
Part 9 (coming soon)
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