He is Relaxin', Indeed -- Jay

My wife was staying with her sister in Santa Cruz last weekend. Since we didn’t know if we’d see each other on Easter, we didn’t color any eggs. At the last minute, we decided to all meet up in Big Sur on Sunday morning to spend the day hiking and hunting.

Hunting Easter eggs, that is.

I told them I would bring some plastic eggs with me, but by 9 o’clock Saturday evening there wasn’t a single store with anything more than rabbit Pez dispensers. By 10 o’clock, I was back home doing things the old fashioned way...boiling eggs and dipping them in dye. Then I woke up at 6, drove three hours north, and had an awesome Easter Sunday.

By the time we met, we'd missed the only church service in town, so we went to the spot we’d originally wanted to get married. It’s an outdoor chapel featuring nothing but a dozen basic wooden benches facing a stone and wood altar and a large wooden cross overlooking the creek. A few other people (visiting from Sevier County, Tennessee) had the same idea as us. After talking for several minutes, I learned that the middle-aged couple purchased their first home in Arcadia, California...which is where I lived till I was thirteen! In fact, we all lived there at the same time.

Small world.

My wife, my sissie-in-law, and I then hiked to the top of Buzzard’s Roost. We had lunch at the Big Sur River Inn, relaxed by the water, then I hid Easter eggs for them...


Then it was their turn to hide Easter eggs for me...


Finally, my wife said something she’d been holding in all day. “You seem much more relaxed than you have in months.”

It was true. With no way to check my e-mail, work on my second book, and very limited cellphone reception (though I was able to welcome Eve back from Hawaii), it was hard to do anything but simply reeeeelaaaaax. And it felt refreshingly wonderful.

But don’t worry...I’m back.

- Jay


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