Susan Senator
All happy families are not alike...
All happy families are not alike...
A Day in the Life
I am on vacation, as I’ve said, and I am marvelously content, which is not my usual state. I am much more frenetic and edgy at home. But here, on Cape Cod, there are few choices. Here is what my usual day is like:
Wake up at 7
Make the coffee (8-9 cups of Peet’s French Roast, half-caf)
Stretch and do therapy stuff for knee while coffee brews
Drink the coffee (1 1/2 packets of Splenda, a little cream) on the deck and look at the salt marsh
Get on my bike and go somewhere: the bay; the ocean; the harbor in Orleans
End up at Mom and Dad’s place around 8:30
Drink a cup of coffee with them until around 9. Shmooze, check email.
Ride home. Bike total: ~13 miles
Make lunches and pack up for the beach (15-30 mins.)
Choose bikini (takes 1-10 mins)
Drive to Nauset Light, wait in line for around 40 mins. for a parking space. This sounds insane to some of you, right? But Nauset is our favorite beach and there is limited parking, even at 10:15 a.m. If you go to Coast Guard, you have to take the shuttle there (no parking at all). I would ride there, but none of them do! Or we go to Wellfleet, and pay $15 and walk down (and then up) an enormous dune. So, wait in the car and gossip about all the other people in line. (Sue:”Why don’t they move up?”
Ned: “What do you care? There’s no place to go anyway!”
Sue: “Yeah, but why leave such a big space between him and the other car? Why not move up?”
Ned: “It doesn’t matter.”
Sue: “You’re never on my side!”
Ned: “I’m just trying to enjoy myself.”
Sue: “So am I!”
And so on)
Survey beach; find emptiest part near best waves; set up, apply goop, and lie down.
Immediately fend off Benji’s requests for lunch. Give him fruit, then of course Nat and Max want some, too. One hour until lunch.
Look for interesting men to look at (sorry, it’s true!) who are older than 20.
Feel the water.
Lie back down, listen to iPod.
Give Benj lunch early.
Eat an Atkins bar because Benji’s lunch makes my mouth water.
Give everyone lunch.
Everyone tries the water! Get wet, maybe stay in if it’s really hot out.
Go back to blanket for boogie boards.
Catch a bunch of waves, sometimes right onto the sand. Let the waves pull you back in without getting your legs all scratched up. Hang on board with Benj or Nat.
Ride waves until your body aches and it starts to get scary whenever a big one approaches you because your too old and tired to ride it properly.
Straggle out and adjust suit.
Throw yourself down on blanket and sleep as long as Benji will let you.
Stay until around 3.
Pack up, shake out, pull on clothes, walk up the endless stairs to parking lot.
Outdoor showers at home. This is one of the biggest joys of the vacation: being naked outdoors in the privacy of the outdoor shower.
Get dressed, maybe take a nap.
5 p.m. Drink some wine, think about dinner.
See what Mom and Dad want to do.
Get some fish, grill it with corn.
Give the kids ice cream, try not to smell it or look at it.
Try not to eat too much sugar-free fudge from Provincetown after you smell and look at and taste the kids’ ice cream (the Maltitol gives one diarrhea. Remember, no such thing as a free lunch. you don’t gain weight from sugar-free fudge, but you can get really sick!).
Clean up from dinner and do something for the night (kids play games with Mom and Dad, writing for me, work for Ned)
Get everyone to bed by 9:30
Try to stay up unitl 11 to see Jon Stewart.
Hang out, laugh, cuddle, etc., with Ned
Sleep deeply, one leg thrown out of covers to feel the breeze coming in from open windows.
14 comments
E-mail Susan
On Facebook
@susansenator
I asked you several posts back what kind of sweetener you use…and now I know. So I wanted you to be aware of a natural and safe sweetener out there- Stevia. You should throw out anything and everything containing Splenda, because unlike the marketing implies..it is far from anything that might be natural and good for you! I only say this because I care and because a body like yours should be treated well. Low carb shouldn’t have to be low grade and harmful. While trying to locate the ingredient list for Splenda, I found this: http://www.rawfoodinfo.com/articles/art_splendaisitsafeornot.html
i used sucrose on my no-sugar no-flour diet (I know, it’s not quite the same) and it worked for me. i don’t know why sucrose is not the same as sugar, but a medical column in the newspaper suggested it and I tried it.
Great post Susan. You’ve captured something that, while I cannot relate to directly, seems very familiar at the same time. Perhaps it’s just part of the whole panorama of your writing. Say hi to Ned for me. Hope you have a great vacation.
And I thought I was the only one who slept with one leg splayed out from under the comforter!
Stevia. Look into it. It is the only sweetener we use for Tony. Good stuff.
Mrs. Glib mentioned your bod. See…people ARE noticing that bikini of yours!
Beach as therapy. Totally. We’re only 15 minutes from a private beach here in Charleston…but YUCK! The beach sand here is so ugly. I much prefer San Destin or Navarre Beach in Florida down on the Redneck Riviera.
Well, at least I get to hit my native Laguna Beach next week for 7 days. Without kids or spouses or family. Just my best friend Tim and the pursuit of the perfect snifter of Porfidio. Yum. And a few fish tacos. And some cerveza. And music. And San Luis Obisbo. And San Clemente. And sailing…
But I ramble on…
How does Nat like the beach? Tony loves the beach in a very tactile, earthy way. It is like he feels grounded near big water…and sand. Interesting for a little 2.5-year old Autistic kiddo. I need to figure out how to get rich quick (maybe write a book or three?) and move to the Isle of Palms…or better still, back to my native South OC. Yep…Laguna or bust.
Stay tanned, kitten.
—Ant.
Atkins bar?!? No-sugar ice cream?!? Yuck! Apparently you spend an unfortunate amount of time worrying about your weight and how you look in a bikini. That is a shame, sorry to hear that. Life is too short and women have made too many advancements for such stereotypical insecurities from a mature woman.
Atkins bars and no-sugar food is just bad tasting and likely bad for you. My advice, for what it’s worth: Just enjoy life in moderation.
Haha! Just chiming in again here..at my endless amusement about people reading my name as gLib when it is gILb..short for Gilbert..it is sort of a running joke with the husband and his brothers..and very common for others(online)to see glib. I have come to love gilb so much that it is a theme in my house and I am actually advertising it in my front porch. It reads(in painted funky french-looking lettering) CAFE GILB est. 2003 with a steaming coffee cup and a spoon 😀 and yer damned right she is hot! wooooooo!
Life is too short to be miserable being fat. I have been big and lost the weight and felt so amazing and confident. There is nothing like that feeling. And if a woman wants to be in the public eye and respected, it is much much easier to be at an ideal weight. As much as it isn’t right, it is that way and always has been and will never change in the eyes and minds of society. I am still confident even though I have gained back the weight with babies. Susan is an inspiration for me to get out there and move around more. I just hope to refine her ideas a bit and help out in regards to refined sweeteners. Chiming out now.
It sounds like a wonderful vacation!! My grandpa used to have an outdoor shower as well! I love them. Sadly, they don’t work as well in an apartment building. 😛
“Life is too short to be miserable being fat.”
I hardly would consider Susan to be overweight at all.
It’s unfortunate to see people eat artificial and “big business” (aka Atkins) food just to deny themselves a moderate and reasonable diet. It’s clear that she *wants* to have a taste of ice cream and – gasp – a sandwich. So she should have a little bit.
I know many people that have used fad diets like Atkins (ugh! how can you stand that junk) and I can’t think of one that didn’t end up going to the other extreme when it was all said and done.
If one had to diet – and, no, Susan you don’t need to diet, IMO -then Weight Watchers at least gives people normal food at moderate portions.
In the end, it’s all about portion control and exercise.
But, that’s all besides the point, I think Susan is perfectly attractive and fit as is. But if she doesn’t think so then that’s the bigger problem.
“Life is too short and women have made too many advancements for such stereotypical insecurities from a mature woman.”
_________________________________
So where is your name, Ms. or Mr. Security???
Go have a salad and be quiet for a while.
Every person has something that just clicks for them and if Atkins clicks for her, God bless her. It’s a lot harder to maintain the weight loss than to initially lose it because of all of the temptation to fall off the wagon.
I love these posts about the beach, Charlie loves going to the beach too and is brown as a nut. I love seeing him so happy in the water. Hydrotherapy. It’s great.
Thanks for bringing the beach to a guy who is landlocked. I appreciate it, and your photos 🙂
Enjoy your vacation!
Oh, Tina,
I am probably only going to switch to Sweet ‘N’Low. I don’t know where to get Stevia, and how do you know that sh** is any better??
Anton – Down Boy!
Hey, Anon – You’ve got a point. I do eat barfy food and I am sometimes insecure; it is the only way to look the way I want to look at my age. There is no easy way to do so. But I am happy with the way I look, don’t get me wrong.
I meant me being fat, Anon. I am sick of it. ~A health food store is where you get the Stevia. It is an herbal extract from Paraguay that has yet to be proven harmful in lab rats. I think low carb can really work for some people.
personally, i think the problem with all of this focus on susan’s “weight” and “eating habits” is that you’re missing out on the larger [mostly positive] issues she’s discussing in her post (my favorite is that she actually seems relieved from stress while being with family; go figure).
go back and read it again, and try to leave what is clearly an issue for you (eating habits? low self-esteem? judging other people?) at the door. it’s a lovely post, atkins bar and all.