First, let me say that I find the necessity to remove your hat when passing through immigration unnecessary. I understand why it should come off during security, but has anyone ever been caught impersonating someone else because after they removed their hat, the officer realized it was an imposter? I find it equally fascinating they don't ask me to remove my glasses if they insist on monitoring my head garb. Has Superman taught us nothing? Glasses conceal identities.
I am on the final leg of my journey, and I'm sure you are wondering what I did with ten days in a country with one of the most renowned natural landscapes in the world. I sat on a couch and successfully binge-watched two seasons of Riverdale, an intriguing tale of high school heroes, who are much more developed than the fifteen year old kids they are playing, combatting small town villains who have big city wiles. I have no regrets.
To be fair, our options were limited since the purpose of my trip was to meet Eloise, the latest addition to the Navatsyk/Meerman crew. Sixteen-week-olds are not extremely mobile, though they are extremely adorable. I found it surprisingly easy to adapt to the new mother routine. It probably helps that I'm not actually a new mother. Although, in solidarity with my sister who rotated breast feeding shirts, I wore the same outfit the entire week, rotating between frontwards and backwards elastic-waisted pants. It is very difficult to figure out the correct way to wear them because the tag is so tiny, and I'm so sleepy at 7 am. The grad school schedule has really spoiled me.
Despite not being the mother, I'm surprised I didn't spontaneously lactate. Between the baby staring expectantly at my boobs, willing them to produce milk and occasionally lunging to see if they did, and breathing in the essential oil to increase flow, it seemed a strong possibility. Essential oils, you really do have a solution for everything.
It wasn't all couch time and cuddles, though. New Zealand has yet to discover central heating, and we had a fire to tend. This required extreme vigilance, and I feel pretty qualified to build a fire in the forest, provided I have kindling cut for me and a fire already started. They call me Laura Ingalls Wilder.
I was also able to get back in the swing of cooking. It seems every time I travel to New Zealand, I discover another vegetable that is easier to cook than I think. Last time, it was broccoli - all you need to do is boil water and submerge the broccoli for four minutes. This time, it was bok choy. All you need to do is submerge the bok choy for a minute! I also concluded that while online recipes are convenient, cook books are much better. There's something cathartic about following a recipe in a book rather than switching between tabs to access the recipe on a cluttered computer browser. While in the kitchen, I also discovered many gadgets I need to acquire. A soda machine, a water boiler. Any gadget that alters water to an exciting, imbibable form that will allow me to ween myself off of the grad school beer-every-day-of-the-week lifestyle. I will be adding these, as well as other things, to a proactive registry.
What is a proactive registry, you ask? Good question. A proactive registry is yet another million dollar idea. It comes in lieu of a wedding registry, for those of us who need new things but aren't hearing the sound of wedding bells in the near future. You buy me a gift, and barring any unforeseen atrocity committed in our relationship by you, you are invited to the wedding, at which point, you do not need to buy my a gift. If the gift is $1,000+, you, my friend, have a fighting chance of joining the wedding party. There's some kinks to work through, but I like it.
It really was a special time. Soon enough, I will be back on the grind, with ten vacation days - yikes bikes I looked at my vacation allowance for the first year. Not abundant. As I sit there, taking over the world, one e-commerce transaction at a time, I will look back on trips like this. Trips in which I had the flexibility and the means to be with the people I love most, to see past brokenness being restored - though never completely - and to celebrate a sweet little life with loads of laughter. And, of course, to binge watch Netflix. And I will be so grateful.
Strolling the liquor store in my mother uniform. Liquor store sounds much more juicy than wine store, which is what we purchased.
Who you?
Just the happiest little nugget.
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