A lot can happen in three weeks, so I've decided to write about my experiences during my exile. While Bob is taking the trip of a lifetime with a friend to the North Pole, travelling on a nuclear-powered Russian ice breaker, I will get a chance to look at life through the eyes of a sort-of-single person. I think there will be pros and cons of living alone but I hope I come away with a greater sense of appreciation for Bob -- and hopefully he will feel the same about me when he returns.
Bob left Thursday evening on June 23rd, traveling to Helsinki for a couple of days before flying into Russia, to the port city of Murmansk, where he will board the ship "50 Years of Victory" on Monday, June 27th. This ship is currently the largest icebreaker in the world, or so the Russians claim. The construction of the ship began in October 1989 at the Baltic Shipyard. Shipbuilding work was halted in 1994 due to funding problems and was resumed in 2003. The icebreaker took almost 18 years to complete but it was finally launched in the beginning of 2007, at which time its name was changed from the NS Ural to its current name, "50 Years of Victory". How impressive. How Russian! Victory over what, I wonder?
The day of Bob's departure we decided to have an pre-anniversary celebration - our 33rd - by getting up early and heading to Land's End in San Francisco. The park and trail hug the cliffs of the Pacific Ocean on the western side of the Golden Gate Bridge. The views of the ocean and the bridge are outstanding, and it was a perfect, clear, warm day for this adventure. We had planned to walk from the start of the trail to Crissy Field (about 4 miles) and then on to the Ferry Plaza (another 4 miles) but I had huge blisters from trying to break in a new pair of shoes the day before, so I had to hike in flip flops which slowed me down. We made it to the Palace of Fine Arts and then Ubered the rest of the way in order to make our lunch reservations at the Slanted Door.
The Slanted Door was, as usual, fabulous. Fresh oysters on the half shell, uni, cellophane noodles with crab, lemongrass chicken, and sauteed eggplant -- all chased with a Royal "Pimm's Cup" (sort of like a gin cooler) and a glass (or two) of Pinot. It was a delicious send off, and warranted, just in case the food on the ice breaker consisted of 14 days of pickled herring.
I dropped Bob at the airport, slogged through an hour and 45 minutes of traffic to get home, and started my bachelorettehood by changing into my pajamas, reading a book, and having half of a small jar of smoked, pickled okra for dinner (it was the first thing on the shelf as you walk in the pantry door and I was feeling VERY lazy). Plus, who needs a big meal after the lunch I'd had earlier in the day?I went to bed late in blissful peacefulness, for once without the television playing one of Bob's favorite shows, Naked and Afraid. I fought hard to not have a television in our bedroom, but c'est la vie. It was a losing battle. Maybe because my mind was not full of images of naked people eating larvae and bickering with each other over who has to collect the firewood that day, or maybe because it was so quiet due to the lack of Bob's sonorous breathing next to my ear, but I slept like a log for the first time in a long while.
I had survived Day 1.
