After discovering that we’d lost most of our travel cash, we
experienced the emotional trauma one might associate with such an event. There
was gnashing of teeth, pulling of hair, fisticuffs with inanimate and innocent
objects and violent exclamations of curse 1words. The feelings of loss and
regret were suffocating.
At least, that’s how I
reacted (obviously, "hair pulling" is just an expression in this case). For
reasons I can only barely understand, Melody seemed almost unaffected. I don’t
know if it’s the magical hold this country has over her, or if she just sensed
that I was reeling in despair and desperately needed her to be steady, but for
whatever reason she did not gnash her
teeth, pull her hair, or assault inanimate objects in a rage. Nor did she then,
or ever, blame me for the litany of mistakes I’ve made in this mess. She simply
pronounced that it was only money, that we’d paid off a metric crapload of debt
already, so we shouldn’t worry about charging our remaining expenses, and that
we should get on with our vacation. What’s done was done; all we could control
was how we let it affect us. (Hmm… sounds familiar…)
This is why I married that woman. In those moments when I
lose my perspective, when I lose my ability to think rationally, I can always count
on her to help me get centered. She is a Godsend in so many ways.
So that’s the last I’m going to write on the subject. From
this point forward it’s nothing but happy posts and beautiful pictures from the
South Island. Onward, ho!