The week started out great! Last Saturday I ran a 5k, and had my first good run in a long, long time. I managed to maintain a 9:27 pace, which hasn’t happened since pre-covid. That pace enabled me to place second in my age group. I was thrilled! My friend, Jennifer, was not able to go to breakfast after, but I was hungry and decided to go anyway. One thing about getting older is that eating out alone isn’t quite as intimidating as when I was younger. It was a beautiful sunny morning, so I enjoyed my breakfast on the patio of the restaurant. Ahhh…a wonderful morning!

And then, CRASH. Literally. My husband was in Virginia and had driven my car, so I had his brand new Chevy Silverado. I know my limitations, so I was fearful of parking lots. Short lady + large truck = the potential for disaster. I parked 3/4 mile away at the race just so that I could be in a lot with no other vehicles. At breakfast, I parked pretty far out in the lot and there were no cars around. Until I came out. No problem – plenty of room. Or so I thought until I heard the crunch of a car as I was pulling out. Shit. Not only did I hit the car next to me, but that car was a BMW. Nope, I couldn’t hit a crappy old car; I have to pull the bumper off of a luxury vehicle. I simply misjudged how much room I had next to the little black BMW. I wish that were the worst of it. I actually had to do the walk of shame into the restaurant to find the owner. There was no other way. The owner was an 80-year-old woman, who was very kind, but also thought her car – with only the bumper torn up – might be totaled. I was so angry with myself. I ruined a perfectly good day.

Things had to get better because I was leaving to meet my husband in Washington DC on Monday. I went to my son’s on Sunday because he lives 10 minutes from the airport, and I had an earlier-than-the-crack-of-dawn flight. My flights went perfectly. I had great seats, no issues with my connecting flight, and no problem meeting up with Gary in DC. We found parking near our AirBnB, but couldn’t get in our room until 4:00, so we went exploring. We had a fantastic afternoon walking to the White House, near the Washington Monument, and the National Mall. We visited Ford’s Theater, and enjoyed lunch at an older restaurant in the area. Another perfect day…until we arrived at our AirBnB. We got in the building with no issues, but the elevator doors would not stay open for us to get out on the 4th floor. Gary forced it to stay open so we could get out with the few bags we had with us. The cleaning service ladies were there, and said the elevator had been acting up. When it was time for them to go down, it would not work at all. Great. We had a night tour booked, and did not have time to mess with a non-functioning elevator. We could not even resort to the stairs because the door to the floor locks, so essentially, we would have no access to our AirBnB if we left. Panic. Stress. Instant headache. What the hell were we going to do?

I had noticed a hotel across the street from our building. I called to see if by chance they had a room for three nights. They did! I messaged our host, told him we could not stay in a building with no working elevator, and that we would require a full refund. We trudged down the stairs, across the street, and into the Capitol Hilton. Although the price tag was nearly twice what we had paid for the AirBnB, it was worth it to not have to worry about getting back into our room each time we ventured out. The location was perfect and the staff was outstanding.

The rest of our time in DC went without incident. While I had been to DC, it was always with a group of eighth graders, so it was refreshing to do what we wanted to do at our own pace. The highlight was on our 20th anniversary. I had purchased tickets to the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center, and CeCe Winans was joining them. Not to be overly dramatic, but it was one of the best nights of my life! Our seats were fantastic; CeCe was incredible; and the symphony was just beautiful. It was the perfect way to celebrate 20 years with my husband.

On Thursday, we said goodbye to DC and headed to Atlantic City. We (well, I) wanted a little beach time on our trip, so we added three nights there. The reviews on the city were mixed, but the AirBnB I had booked was about 1/2 block off the beach and the reviews were great. We could get some great seafood and spend some time in the evenings exploring the casinos. What could go wrong? When we arrived in the city, we were early for check-in, so we spent some time shopping at an outlet mall. We then decided to get a few groceries, but the store was really sketchy, so we didn’t stop. Gary decided – judging by the area – that we should go check out our accommodations. Holy shit. The neighborhood was scary as hell. I had planned to go out on runs, but there was no way I would run alone in the area. We would not even feel safe returning to our condo at night. We went inside just to see what it looked like, and it was very nice. Everything was updated and spotless. The listing was accurate to an extent; they just used creative photography outside. I reread the reviews, and there was not one bad review. A couple of people even said it was the “perfect location.” We went back to the car and decided to just return home three days early. Fortunately, they refunded part of our money, which we did not expect. If you have ever thought about visiting Atlantic City, don’t. There might be nice areas, but what we saw was trashy. Below is the street where the AirBnB is located.

Did our bad luck end there? Of course not. There were still days left in my week. Gary drove until late that night (in the rain and fog through the mountains), and we finally stopped somewhere in West Virginia. There was no room at the inn. Of course. We went to the next exit and we were able to get a room. We were exhausted by this point, and finally got to our room ready to crash. We opened the door, and the first thing I saw was that the bed was unmade! The room had not been cleaned. Gross. I headed back downstairs, waited in line, and got another room. As the clerk handed me the key, she said, “Good luck!” Good luck? She actually said those words. I should not need good luck in order to have a clean room in a hotel. Thankfully, the new room was not only clean, but it had just been renovated.

After a decent night’s sleep, we were back on the road. We were very grateful to arrive home Friday afternoon. No elevators, no sketchy neighborhoods, no dirty rooms. Surely our luck was changing!

I went to town to run Saturday. I hadn’t run all week, and just needed to sweat a little. I parked in a lot across from the country club. The first hole runs parallel with the road. You know where this is going, right? When I finish, I get in my car to drive home, and just after I pull onto Mozart Street, I see something white flying at me, and hear a little ‘thump’ on my bumper. The boy who hit the ball was staring at me as I drove past, but I was not about to stop and gripe at him for hitting my bumper (remember I hit a BMW the week before). I did, however, pull over once I got out of his sight. There was no damage, but as I looked closer, I found his golf ball. It got stuck in my bumper!

What does any of this have to do with fitness or Weight Watchers? Normally, I would have been stress eating and drinking all week. Each upsetting incident would have given me an excuse to eat pizza and cake and cookies, drink rum and wine and vodka. I didn’t. I just moved on once we found a solution. I did not gain weight while on vacation. That is a huge win! Other than lunch at the food trucks one day and a visit to a chocolate shop, we made good choices all week, and we walked as much as possible.

As a new week begins, I pray that it goes better than these past eight days. For every wonderful moment, we had an equally bad experience. We did not let that take away from the wonderful. I am also reminded to remain humble. It seems that I begin to get confident in myself, God reminds me that I am not in control. Although I had control of the truck, I could not control anything else that happened. Will I use AirBnB again? Not likely. I think Gary and I are better suited to hotels. Will I drive Gary’s truck again? Not likely. I would definitely avoid parking lots. Will I ever be a travel agent? Hell no.