Oxygen masks

When you are traveling on an airplane, there is always a series of instructions (that I mostly ignore). One of the oft heard instructions is "in the event of an emergency, oxygen masks will drop in front of you" followed by the ever important and somewhat odd "make sure your mask is secure before assisting other passengers or children".

Ever thought about that? As a nurse, I can affirm the importance of having oxygen in order to continue to think clearly and care for others. But as a mom, it seems counter intuitive to put an oxygen mask on yourself before your kids.

But, it would be much better to deprive your child of 30 seconds of extra oxygen than for your child to spend the remainder of the emergency with their mom passed out in the adjoining seat...

Sometimes as a mom it has been hard for me to take time for myself when there are still things to be done for my children. It's the low key version of the airline scenario. Ultimately, I have learned that when I need to take a break and get a little "oxygen" that everyone around me survives the entire affair with no post traumatic stress disorder in sight.

With that as a precursor, last week when my friend Elena called and confessed that she needed some oxygen in her life, I was on board to help her. It was a really tough request to fulfill, but I headed out of town with her to San Diego. Just the two of us. It was fabulous.

We stayed on Coronado Island as a great Bed and Breakfast. It was so great to have people make OUR beds and cook us breakfast and clean up after us. The morning of our second day, we rented some beach cruisers and took a ride around the island. We saw some gorgeous houses and stopped along the way for shopping and yummy food.

This was our halfway point on the ride with down town San Diego behind us. The weather was divine and I literally felt giddy as we rode along with our hair blowing behind us.

After our bike tour, we ate some sushi at a place with a killer view and then headed to the sand to lounge in some beach chairs.

This is me -- fully oxygenated.