you got my back?

traveling alone has been an interesting experience. to say the least. chief among the things i have realized are how many day to day activities require another person.

i am fine on my own. let me say that again- i am most certainly fine on my own. i am enjoying time to myself, the eagerness with which i talk to anyone who will have me, the long hours to get acquainted with the music of the streets and yael naim. but there are certain things you simply need another person for.

conversation, for example. it is hard, though not impossible, to have a conversation by yourself. it is exceeding hard to do so without drawing a certain negative attention to yourself. it is also hard to be the photo-snapping, finger-pointing, "look, they have 7-11 in sydney!" kind of tourist on your own. there are countless day-to-day things that are much harder to do on your own. play pat-a-cake. walk hand in hand. ride a tandem bike. the argentine tango. and a million more, including putting sunscreen on your back.

i never realized just how much i take for granted that extra set of hands when it's time to slather on my spf 30. when you have someone there, there is always a complaint: "you have sand on your hands!" or "the sunscreen is too cold!" or "that's not how my birth mother does it!" but take those hands away and i'm singing a whole different song- and an exasperating song at that. there is nothing romantic about putting sunscreen on your own back, nor is there anything graceful or easy about it. your arms are never quite long enough. you always miss that hard to reach spot under your scapula- even if you use the spray bottles. i have almost dislocated my shoulder on several occasions, creating silhouettes that would shame those nine-year-old asian contortionist in cirque du soliel. all in the name of uv protection. five weeks of this nonsense and i was, suffice it to say, a mite tired of it.

you can imagine my great delight when chris arrived this sunday past. forget that he had narrowly escaped being detained indefinitely in toronto due to the snowstorm. forget that we hadn't seen each other in over a month. forget that i would have a traveling companion and someone to tour through the life i'm making for myself here. forget that. what really mattered is that i would finally- finally!- have someone to do my back. thank goodness.

chris and i are having a lovely time together here in sydney, thanks for asking. the weather has been impossibly good and our days have been filled with adventure and gelato. yesterday we walked the shore from bondi beach to bronte beach, something so beautiful that i would feel content if my trip ended tomorrow. tomorrow we will get on a plane and fly up the east coast to airlie beach where we will spend three days sailing the whitsunday islands and diving on the great barrier reef. yes, we are having a lovely time indeed.

and through it all, chris has been there, ready for conversation, doubles tennis matches, and the countless times i turn to him and ask, ever so humbly, "will you do my back?"