“But other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?”
Controlling The Uncontrollable & Finding Balance
I am not one for spontaneity. I hate surprises. I am not one to give up easily and throw in the towel. Most of all, I hate being told that I cannot do something, as if you think outside the box, you will find a solution to any problem. Yet, with so many variables and levels of uncertainty, it is difficult to control this uncontrollable vacation.
The only spontaneous decisions that I have made in my life were 1) Traveling to Israel in 2017, 2) Starting a podcast, and 3) Accepting two, incredible part-time jobs. Nevertheless, I will always find myself to be stuck in areas of uncertainty. It is all about finding a balance. Other than that, I continue to embrace the chaos and face my challenges head-on. Just know I do not always have rays of sunshine coming out of my butt, and I am borrowing that rehash from my friend and podcast guest, Sam Rosalie.
The Trials & Tribulations of MBA Accounting at Nobu
Other than the whole lockout situation from the first night, we were in Miami, we made it, and we were all alive. The first three days of the vacation was all a blur as my mom was still zonked from her 'ultra-marathon' experience, and I was too invested in surviving my ongoing MBA accounting course. While the profession of accounting runs in the family, I am afraid this apple fell too far from that tree. Accounting is my organic chemistry, if you will. For three days straight, I sat alongside the pool at the Nobu/Eden Roc Hotel in Miami Beach, studying, and completing my final exam. It came to the point where our new friend, Salvador, Director of Pool & Beach at Nobu, saw how pathetic I looked and how I so reeked of desperation that he instructed his staff to stay away and bring a piña colada throughout the day with some watermelon delights. Don't judge me on how many I had, I personally lost count. The whole staff knew of my accounting woes and how it sucked the life out of me, akin to the dementors from Harry Potter. Finished my exam, I bid adieu to accounting and this time, for real.
Poolside at Nobu was a breeze. Every day, an accessible lounge chair would be set up so I could come out of my wheels without a problem. While I most definitely was the cause of the towel shortage (as I needed to be propped up by a mountain of them). It was not a necessity to have piña coladas and strawberry margaritas on the daily, but how could I say no?! The Nobu/Eden Roc hotel is our family's equivalent to the Steiner Resort on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. While the Nobu hotel does have its faults, I brought specific issues of an accessibility to the attention of management and my hope that changes can be made. Prior to arriving at the hotel, we spent months prior going over all of the details and the Nobu definitely delivered and made sure everything went as smooth as possible. The power of advocacy goes a long way, my friends.
Wheels On Rogue
Did your wheelchair ever have to get drilled out of an elevator shaft? As it turns out, many wheelchair lifts are not made for electric wheelchair users. Apparently, the electromagnetic field from my wheelchair batteries interfered with the solenoids in the elevator. The overwhelming force caused the elevator to be unable to deploy and release the door (at least from what my dad tells me). This is where the Nobu engineering guy came in and drilled me out of the elevator of death. Yes, the engineer had cataracts, and my dad, having had cataracts and subsequent surgery himself was quite empathetic and excited, had to talk him through the entire process. I personally never thought I would see the sweet ground again. But other than that, we made a new friend, and my dad almost decided to make a drastic career change and become an repairman at the hotel. If only we did not already have roots back in NY.
Speaking of wheels, my wheelchair decided to die on the way back from our trip to Lincoln Road due to a drained battery. Here is how it happened, you see...in Miami, as we do not have ready access to an accessible van, we walk or bike everywhere. We biked on the way there, the trip route parallel to the ocean, and I had the wind blowing in my hair, sunnies on, and it was great. Of course, when we got to Lincoln Rd, we realized that we had forgotten my emergency medical backpack, which is like my version of a First Aid Kit (shocker, we screwed up yet again). Thankfully, Joel (my brother who is on the road to becoming a rabbi) schlepped back to the hotel, then met us back at Lincoln Rd to save the day. By that point, my wheels were going strong; we went shopping, saw our friend at the Romero Britto Gallery, and got Aroma & Starbucks, the usual, acting like everything was normal. Side note, Lincoln Rd is extremely accessible and definitely a must-visit.
Back to my wheels, she (yes, she's a she) died a slow and painful death on the way back to the hotel along the ocean. A park ranger ("How You Doin'?") happened upon us in his official golf cart and became our knight in shining armor. He took our rented Citi Bikes back to be checked in, and then my parents took turns pushing my 300+ lbs wheels approximately 25 blocks. Joel, who was supposed to catch up with us to assist with the wheelchair sled pushing, never ended up meeting us on our death walk; it seems that he did not understand my mom's cryptic message "Help us. Chair died. Pushing it back. Please meet us to help us push. We are dying." Knowing that Joel was coming to put us out of our misery was all we had going for us. On top of this, my mom's bra strap was hanging on by a small thread. Our sweet six-month-old dog, Toula, must have gone through our luggage before we left and eaten 3/4 of the strap. So not only did my mom have to summon up strength from the whole locking out of the hotel room situation from three days ago, now she had to push a wheelchair and use whatever feats of strength she had left. Had the bra strap broke, it could have been catastrophic and changed the course of the events of the world as we know it.
Next Up: The Adventure of Wynwood Walls, Podcasting in the Wild, More Joel Sagas, & The Big Hotel Switch. Watch Out, The Vacation is Still Young.
This is #TalesofWanderlust by Peri. XX
