i saw jessica's face through the mirror standing behind me as i stood with one hip cocked out to the side sporting my new shiny gold bikini.
my hands still had cotton balls taped on from where they pulled the IV needles out this morning, and my 2 day old tattoo was coated in vasoline.
we fell down laughing.
jessica and and i are renowned for making questionable decisions... it's been this way since we were 9 years old.
we look at one another to see if there is a red flag and the other just shrugs their shoulders and away we go...
today it was coming out of the hospital with my purse full on the three medications i will need to stay on for the next 2 weeks as i recover from a kidney infection that knocked me flat out... throwing my purse over my shoulder, slipping on my flip flops that had been outside the door of the hospital since i staggered in the night before unable to breathe or walk...
(of COURSE they were still there. i LOVE thailand for reasons like this)...
and renting an ATV directly next door to the hospital. i didn;t even have my flip flops on for five steps before kicking them off again to enter the rental shop.
in our delusional minds, it was the perfect way to take the doctor's recommendation that i rest for the next few days...
we would rent an ATV four wheeler (because its safer then a motorbike... duh)... and go to a beautiful beach on the other side of Koh Tao island - Freedom Cove or something like that - and we would just go to sleep in the sun all day.
maybe get a massage or 3...
of COURSE this ended up with us on some crazy cliffside, having to take turns getting off the back of the ATV with the emergency brake on and huffing up this mountain because we were out of gas and it couldn't go up such a steep hill.
oh... the stories could go on for days.
but now, i must rest... in this crazy huge beautiful bed that jessica is splurging and treating us to....
we can see the unbelievable beaches of koh tao from our penthouse princess suite.
the AC is blasting and she is asleep next to the window that looks out at the beach past the infinity pool.
the resort is called "MANTRA"
and my mantra has just been "breathe" for days now.
ironically, jessica and i got tattoos a year and a half ago when our friend devin died and where mine has an OM, hers has the word "breathe"...
its all i could tell myself to do in the hospital, dealing with the pain in my kidneys and back....
breathe,
its what i repeated to myself two days before in bangkok getting a traditional bamboo tattoo on my ribcage...
breathe,
my new tatoo is a thai blessing called the 5 Hah Taew...
all i know is that there was no question in my mind when i saw it-- i knew it was supposed to be on my right side...
the side that is always plagued with illness and injury.
i needed the luck and blessing across my right ribcage.
i asked jessica if i should do it and of course she gave me the smile and the shrug... no red flags?
bam.
i was under the bamboo needle.
it was an amazing experience...
i just breathed and imagined myself floating inward away from the pain.
it worked.
it was magical.
two days before that, we were in brent's speedboat - on our 300 something-th nautical mile - flying around the indian ocean from the telos at our beautiful amazing friends mario and michelle's resort "surfing village" -- down to togat nusa retreat - bidding adieu for the season to my family there... flying down even further south to kingfisher resort - the place i have been dying to go since i met ben and rebecca and their gorgeous daughter indah earlier this year.
then all the way back to padang across the gnarliest channel...
the worst wind and swell conditions...
and my kidney infection already starting.
i lay on my back on the boat, my head smashing against the aluminum bottom constantly with every hard hit the boat took.
trying to breathe myself inward away from the pain.
we were soaked, freezing, and taking a beating like none other on the boat on that final crossing... trying to make it back to padang so we could get my passport and get on a flight to bangkok (no time for a shower.)
jessica looked up at me at one point - looking rather like a drowned rat freezing and screamed in an anchorman voice "i've never been so miserable in my life! i feel like anne frank."
we now only call each-other "anne"... its the funniest thing of all time.
everything has been a fast paced, blurry, hazy, slightly painful week of hysterical laughter.
this is why jessica is my best friend. because we laugh at virtually everything.
where there is pain, there is joy... and she reminds me of this.
yes... we make decisions that may or may not be the best, but when push comes to shove... life throws shitty things at you... and when you have a best friend that can laugh with you through tattoos and boat crossings - you KNOW that when death and tragedy come your way, you know you always have that solid rock to laugh it off with.
can we get a giggle break?
No comments:
Post a Comment