Sunday, October 26, 2008

Is that Romance I smell...or something else?



Romance is not often in the air around here,
and on the rare occasion it drifts by,
it is immediately flushed out and dissipated
by much more noxious boy fragrances that rule this house.


My husband is an attorney who works long hours,
my boys are both in sports, which take up a lot of time,
and my elderly father lives with us.
All those ingredients do not a romantic environment make.


So, when my mom offered to watch the boys and told us to look up romantic hotels,
I threw the children from our moving car and sped out of town leaped at the chance.

We ended up deciding on a bed & breakfast in Fredericksberg, Texas,
a delightful small town settled by German Americans in the 1800's
that is now a popular Central Texas destination for bed and breakfasts, abundant hunting, fishing, antique stores, museums, the German influence in the form of bakeries, restaurants, stores, and peaches.

My husband and I had big plans. We checked into our B&B, and then headed out walking to browse antique stores and have dinner at the famous Fredericksberg Brewing Company.

It was wonderful to be kid-free, work-free and just plain old FREE to do what we wanted.
As night fell, we headed back to our quaint little romantic B&B
to test out the large hot tub surrounded by candles.




As we stripped our clothes off, turned out the lights, lit the candles and poured in the bubbles,
I began to feel a little sick to my stomach.
I tried to ignore it.
This was our moment.
Our romantic shining moment that had to be perfect.

As we climbed in, giggling as we bumped and slid into the tub, I was reminded why I loved this man, and how he was still the 13 yr old boy I'd fallen in love with,
albeit grown up and hairier.

We held hands, locked eyes, and leaned in for a kiss...
that was interrupted by my sudden urge to vomit.

EVERYWHERE.

It kind of killed the mood.
And so that night, in our big four posted canopied bed, my husband slept like a baby



while I cradled the toilet and slept on the bathroom floor.

And the entire car ride home was spent clutching a bowl and moaning in agony.

It was not the trip we'd planned, but romance had been in the air, briefly,
and we clung to that memory
and laughed about it for years to come.

Even those intended-romantic-resulting-in-non-romantic moments strengthen the love and bond of a marriage and life together.

Life experiences that make up our quilt of memories.

What are your more memorable romantic or non-romantic moments?






49 comments:

CrystalChick said...

OH NO!!! What a yucky trip.
I'm just not really getting the husband slept like a baby in the big canopy bed part.
Whenever I've gotten the dreaded stomach virus it's usually because my family has all gotten it first and I've taken care of their sick sorry asses. So if I'm puking violently, that man.oh.mine better be standing behind me rubbing my back and pulling my hair away from the vomit pile. Just saying....

Keeper of the Skies Wife said...

Oh dear that sucks!!! I couldn't help but giggle at it though...isn't that just like a man to go sleep in a comfy bed...I would have insisted mine sleep on the bathroom floor next to me.
The stomach flu is going around like crazy at the middle school I work at...I don't want it!!!

cheatymoon said...

Oh man...! But it does make for a great story though.
When my other half came to my house for the first time to pick me up for a date (11 years ago), I was not able to meet him at the door because I was upstairs changing my shirt, as my child had just thrown up all over me... :-) We still talk about that.

Captain Dumbass said...

Aw, poor Rhea. Romantic/non-romantic moment. Before starting on the kids we took a trip to Paris. We over slept the first day because of jet lag and then rushed out to make up for lost time. Wifey slipped on a wet cobblestone and screwed up her knee. Spent the rest of the week hobbling around the city denying she was in pain even though she could barely walk.

Lump said...

oh my goodness! at least it started out wonderful and yes, definitely a great memory! ;)

I'll get back to you on my romantic memories... I have to dig deep. How sad is that? ha!

Keys to the Magic Travel said...

Oh no! When I was pregnant with Katie, Michael won a trip to Myrtle Beach - complete with rental car, hotel, House of Blues tickets. So...on that day, I got one of those infamous pregnancy bladder infections. It was most fun driving with that...with the constant need to pee. And then the next day that we were there, I came down with the flu. Fever, body aches, sinus stuff, cough...it was horrible. He went to the House of Blues concert and left me hanging with the potty.

But...normally, we do the romance. With my mom living with us, we can escape quite a bit. And we have regular dates...

Anonymous said...

hi thanks for stopping in. Snot is kind of gnarly.

always,
Buddy

I live them good mom bad mom gals.

Susie said...

Oh you poor thing!! I am soooo sorry! Those moments are so far and in between.

My favorite romantic moment in our relationship was in Vegas. I had gone to the bathroom and when I was done, my husband said, "Look at that sunrise". It was coming up over the mountains and shining into our room. He never looked sexier and I fell in love with him at that moment:-)

Anonymous said...

If I was sick, I would never let my husband sleep peacefully...he would have to stay up and be as miserable as I was! I guess that makes me a selfish person! :)

Often the most "unromantic" moments feel the most romantic in memory!

Wendy said...

Aw that's too bad the ending was ruined, but at least you had the beginning part. Sometimes romance is more than sex. It's everything that leads up to it!

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope to see you again soon.

Anonymous said...

Classic! Why does sickness often come at the absolutely wrong time?

Great post, tho! Fun to read.

elasticwaistbandlady said...

My man and I had our first date at Pancho's Mexican Buffet on the day they discovered Kurt Cobain's bloated dead body.

We are ALL about romance.

Jen said...

I was all set to read a lovely romantic story and I was going to be so happy for you but I guess not. I bet that is how you felt. I hope you get to try again soon, maybe next time you shouldn't eat anything until after you have had all your romance and 'play time.'
Unless... this is your way of tell us that you are pregnant!?!

Anonymous said...

Great post for the contest Rhea! Thanks for visiting our blog and leaving all the comments :)

Karen said...

This sounds like my sisters honeymoon. She got food poisoning. UGH.
The things that really crack me up later are the romatic moments that happen the get interupted by a sharp pounding at the bedroom door, always by the same child. It's like she has a sense for it.

Jennifer said...

Oh no--you poor thing!! At least you can laugh (and blog!) about it!

An unromantic night for me that comes to mind was when my husband and I were driving downtown for dinner and an Alanis Morisette concert--I waspregnant at the time and had to (sorry tmi) throw up out of the car window, so the vomit was all up in my hair. Spent the rest of the evening that way--yuck!!

Lori of I'm no super Mom said...

OH how TERRIBLE! I am so sorry that happened! I love Fredericksberg and OMG the Brewing Company is soooooo good, although I am sure it isn't so fun the second time around.

Cristin said...

Oh. No. Really??

Um... can't think of anything too romantic... there were some moments in the bathroom at Children's when Graham was an infant... not sure that was Romance though...

Jodee said...

Thanks for stopping by tonight!

Sorry to hear about your not-so-romantic night away. Hopefully, you are feeling better soon!

Anna Lefler said...

Oh, man, that bites! I'm so sorry! I hope you get a do-over...

(And you're so welcome for the Southfork comment. Anytime! It was a great piece...)

:^) Anna

sassy stephanie said...

Man I heart Fredericksburg. Sorry to hear your stay didn't go quite as well as it could have. Guess at least you were able to do the chunky monkey thing without hearing "Mooooom!" from the other side of the bathroom door. Hope you are feeling better!

Anonymous said...

Awwww....you know it's true love when you hurl everywhere right before a romantic interlude.

That's ok. I spent my wedding night puking my guts out...and the next day too. I don't recommend mixing champagne and melon balls.

Carin said...

Oh no, what a story!!! While visiting my moms we found out I was pregnant. When we were flying home I started to not feel so good. My husband switched the window seat with me so he could shield me from the other passengers. I must have thrown up 4 times on that flight. Hubby asked the flight attendant for a trash can. She says "oh, I can just take your trash right now". Hubby holds up the little baggie full of vomit and she cringes and says she'll be right back with a trash can.

WheresMyAngels said...

Oh Girl, that does not sound pleasant at all!

I haven't had any romantic moments for over two months. I was hoping for tonight after my husband gets off work, but I lost the remote to the Satellite so he is going to be mad, so won't be getting lucky tonight either :(

Blicky Kitty said...

That is so funny! I love the way you craft your words and images together in such a fun way! Thanks for the nice welcome to SitS!

Kellan said...

What a funny (sad) story! I love Fredericksburg! What a pretty B&B you stayed at.

Have a good week, Rhea - see you soon -Kellan

Angie's Spot said...

OMG, that sounds like something that would happen to me. On our wedding night, my parents arranged for a limo to take us from our wedding site to our hotel in Atlanta. (about a 2 hour drive) Some friends packed a wonderful dinner from the reception food and had it ready with champagne waiting for us in the car. We took about 2 bites of food before we both passed out in the back seat and slept all the way to the hotel. At which point, we woke up long enough to check in, change out of our wedding outfits and go back to sleep. Not quite the "memorable" wedding night I was expecting.

Swirl Girl said...

You qualify for a do-over with gramma keeping the kids!

sometimes life gets in the way of our fantasy in the form of a gurgle and heave.

sorry for you!

Shelley said...

Hope you are feeling better. Perhaps it was all the excitement about romance that caused your immune system to fail you.

Dreams and Designs said...

oh no!! Food poisoning you think???

Well, last year for our anniversary I made us big plans. My mom watched our daughter, and I made reservations at a nice place ad got all spiffed up- cute skirt, high heels, extra time on hair and make up, etc. My husband and I had to meet there because of work schedules. It started when he was 45 minutes late because of traffic. When he got there I was mortified to see that my cute anniverary outfit was coupled with HIM in raggy jeans and a BOWLING SHIRT! He says all the guys at work just thought it would be funny to start wearing bowling shirts to work every Friday!! Ick! NOT the most romantic anniverasry ever. We topped it off with his choice of Movie- Saw 4- which I just went along with because I was deflated by then anyway. He ended up with diarrea all night from the food! (insert wicked laughter here!!!)

Lula! said...

Look at Kat, all but outing herself in her comment. We know, don't we? We keep her secrets.

But you, my dear? I have to say that puke is NOT the smell of romance. And I'm sorry this happened. But look on the brightside...it's gross being sick away from home, but a least you didn't have to clean a pukey potty up afterward.

Katie said...

That's hilarious! :) We had a romantic night planned, which included going out on the town but instead, we got stuck on the couch drinking bottle after bottle of wine. That was cool too, until the next morning when stomach contents met toilet bowl.

Justine said...

OMG, this was way too disgusting to read first thing in the morning. Thanks a lot! LOL

I haven't felt romance (or anything else) from my hubby in a lot of years, but if I think back I can remember plenty. Like when he surprised me on my 21st b-day with a vacation to Key West.

Justine :o )

Dorkys Ramos said...

Aww I hope you guys get another chance for a romantic getaway asap! And that you're feeling much better now. Thanks for stopping by my blog :)

Unknown said...

Least Romantic - My STBX changing out of his tux after our wedding so we went to our B&B with him in a Mickey Mouse sweatshirt & jeans and me in a Wedding dress... then getting to the room and he literally passes out on the bed from exhaustion because he had driven 17 hours straight from TN to MN for the wedding... even though he was with 2 other capable drivers... so I got to try to take my OWN wedding dress off and get the 1000 pins out of my hair myself.

Most Romantic? Go to my blog and search for Mr. B posts... that'll make it easiest.

Brandy said...

I'm not sure about the most romantic cause there are several...even for someone unromantic as he is he tries.

Unromantic? I'm sure it involved a fart. Of some sort. And that's all I say about that.

angela | the painted house said...

"Just a man enjoying his meat" and "save the ta-tas"...which blog am I at? :)

That totally sucks about your weekend! Why does it almost always happen like that?

I LOVE Fred. TX.

Let's plan to get some coffee in January when I come back to DFW!!!!

Amy said...

OH dear, I hate to puke, absolutely hate it, but if I'd been THERE where you were, it would have really sucked even more.

I think there is nothing more romantic than for a man to touch your face when he kisses you. THe little things are what I find romantic :D

Krystyn @ Really, Are You Serious? said...

Oh, I love Fredricksburg. Such a fun little town.

I can't believe you had such a great weekend planned and you puked. I've been reading about this puking everywhere. Don't breathe on the screen, okay?

Seriously, though, I hope you are feeling better.

Betsy Husband said...

That's a sad but very funny story! I'm sure you've made up for it though.

Mariah said...

Oh, that sucks! I hate throwing up. The most romantic moment was when my Ex asked me to marry him, it was cheesy, but when I look back,it was romantic

Anonymous said...

oh, that is classic! Everytime I think about getting away, I worry something like this will happen. Last time, when my in-laws stayed with the kids, my son dislocated his elbow and had to go to the emergency room. Nothing kills romance faster than a visit to the ER!

Raxx - A day in the life said...

Puke is a mood killer for sure!! Talk about lousy timing! Ah well, great that you guys laugh about it!

Indy said...

That really stink. I love the picture of the tub with the wine and glass. You should have taken a photo of the toilet. Ha!

Keys to the Magic Travel said...

When did this happen? And can you believe that I have tomorrow's post ready to go?

And Thursday's? And Friday's? And I know what I am going to do for Saturday...

Putting the FUN in DysFUNctional said...

That sucks like nothing else has ever sucked!! I'm so bummed for you.
I looove weekends at B&B's. That's where our most romantic encounters take place.

Tonya Staab said...

Well that plain sucks. At least you had a fleeting moment of romancem, probably more than you would have had at home.

Paige said...

well aint that a kick in the ass

KG said...

That SUUUUCKS.

I have nothing like that. The closest I have is that you always imagine your wedding night is going to be some pure hawt bliss and yet we were so damn exhausted we just went for the quickie before passing out in a coma. Hawt!