Outpouring Hydration

I've lost track of the months. No one told me this would happen moving to LA. I have no perception of time passing. Gone with the desert wind. And with it, my memory.

How long have I been here? When did that happen? Is there a holiday coming up?

Every day is the same day in La La Land.

Forecast says “dry. sunny. traffic.”

The first two months out here I woke up every morning thinking I had hit the bar too hard the night before. The dehydration headaches despite the 9-5 responsibility. No fun at all.

But time continued. And my dear friend Anna's wedding was underway.

I bought my bridesmaid's dress in anticipation of alterations. Hoping to fit it perfectly.

Notice the use of "me fitting it"...not hoping to have "it fit me" perfectly...?

I stood in front of the Asian man like a mannequin.

Arms out. Diaphragm elevated. Sucked in to avoid pin pricks.

I learned a lesson here. 

When I went to pick it up, it fit alright. But the air inside of me didn't.

I began what a dietitian will refer to as a “Cardiac, NCS FLD.” Translation: low fat, low sodium, sugar free, full liquid diet.” But it was no use. The ribcage was the culprit.

Does alcohol fit into a FLD?

Chinatown summer nights was upon La La Land as well. With one week and a couple of deep breaths to spare until the midwest wedding, the crew headed to the lantern lined streets for DJ dance parties and Tsingtao.
...The Asians population is small so I tried to learn another lesson involving them. In hopes to fit into their alterations. Was that tailor trying to tell me something?

I skipped the sodium laden food and stuck to liquids (okay, minus that one piece of food truck fried chicken). Liquids that would dehydrate me. And hopefully shrink my ribcage. Oh wishful thinking. 

I danced. Confetti popped. Lights flashed. Turn tables, well, turned. It was all very La La Land and so was I.

Needless to say the next day my dehydration headache was warranted. 

So I traveled east. With a 13 year old rocking out, hard, in the seat to my north and a baby kicking my seat, hard, to the south. When I went to ask the flight attendant how much wine was, the father sitting next to this baby held out his credit card.

Again, elevation, wine, headaches. When will I learn?

So I made it home. And to celebrate father and I took a trip to World of Beers. Only after my run in 90 degree, 12pm heat accompanying 95% humidity. Obviously still on my liquid diet. It felt good to be home. It felt a bit humid. But good.

So then there was the rehearsal and to follow the classy rehearsal dinner.

And a 6am run to be had the morning of the wedding before submitting to breathlessness-and not because of the beautiful bride, although that exacerbated things. 

I hardly made it through. Minimal sitting. Minimal eating. Plenty of dancing. Some strobe lights. Professional dancers. Was I still in La La?
What time period was I in anyways. Past and present all sorts of mixed up.

Once the dress came off, so did my discipline. 2 pints of Goose Island beer and 2 slices of pizza (the most glorious pizza I dare say I have ever had only due to circumstances) and I was happy. A little too happy. Two pints atop 4 cocktails atop minimal eating atop running necessitates a gas station trip across the street to stock pile on electrolyte beverages. And by stock pile, I mean, all the lemon flavored zero calorie vitamin and mineral water I could hold onto. With some help of course.

And I'll have you know that those drinks really do the trick. I actually felt pretty darn good the next day. Tired as ever from no sleep, 2 weeks of minimal eating, and a lot of traveling but no headache. I remained a bit breathless that next day despite peeling off the dress. Some things just take the air out of you. And sometimes being home makes emotions come out of you too. Fully hydrated on electrolytes and a bit dehydrated from tears. It felt good to see everyone. And when I graced the streets on Sunday, the weather felt the same way. The rain fell. It felt like la la land to me. I hadn't seen rain, rain for days and days. It was a wonderful display of the outpouring of my emotions. I wanted to go stand in it, badly. But that can be pretty rude when you must rely on others to drive you from place to place.

So I walked through the United O'hare terminal en route to my LA gate. Through tripped out, psychedelic passage ways that brought me back to the direction I was headed. West.

I grabbed a lemon flavored vitamin mineral water before boarding the plane. In anticipation of no crying babies or Megs for that matter. And I sat. Ready to return. To a normal diet. From a bit of closure.

And don't you know it but the next day it rained in La La Land. And I took a good, deep breath.
Here I go. Dancing in the sun. Until I trip while time traveling. And fall. Into autumn. In two weeks. In St. Louis.