1:10 pm
Our Room
Back from the Spa, totally relaxed, watching TV while Cate showers to begin her get-ready-for-tonight routine. I know I'm not exactly low-maintenance, but it never ceases to amaze me what women go through to look good for a formal event. It's like a 26-step regimen.
I have like 5 steps. Shower, shave, hair product, brush teeth, cologne. Done.
Okay, so my hair takes awhile. Not as long as it used to though.
These last 15 hours or so have been wonderful. Just me and Cate, no rushing around, no hangers-on, no being stopped on the street or having to play rock star. Of course we haven't left the hotel either, ha ha. The second we closed the door last night neither of us wanted to open it up again. We just snuggled up together and watched that great Arena game, then got a good night's sleep after a little romantic interlude, then spent the morning being pampered. It was sweet.
And I don't have bags under my eyes, and my skin and nails look great.
I'm more grateful for my family than usual today. Watching all the horror still continuing to unfold in Japan and just shaking my head as my heart sinks. So many lives taken or forever changed. And now with this nuclear meltdown threat, who knows how many generations will suffer the effects, down the line? Christ, there are still Japanese families living with the genetic fallout of the A-Bomb. Now there's radioactive steam being vented into the air to prevent a complete meltdown, which seems like only by grace of God will be averted.
Japan is such a beautiful country, with such a beautiful spirit. I'll never forget my first trip there, before we were famous. Hell, it was my first trip really anywhere, for certain outside the U.S. Everyone was so genteel and proper and here we were these long-haired Hellions bent on excess. But I guess our parents really did raise us right, because we straightened up enough to appreciate what the Japanese people were doing for us. They embraced us completely and fully, and made us Superstars.
One of my very favorite Baby Pictures from those days was shot in Japan. We were doing a ton of press, lots of photos at this beautiful temple and gardens. Dorothea was with me and we snuck away from the center of it all for a breather and just sat down on the grass. One of the crew or somebody snapped a picture of us sharing a kiss. It still makes me smile, brings a little tear to my eye when I look at it.
Life was simple back then, before it all exploded and we took that rocket-ship ride to fame and fortune.
It makes me sad that I'll never experience that with Cate. And today it makes me very, very sad that my future visits to Japan will be somehow bittersweet. I know they'll recover, but like NYC after 9-11, there will always be the memory of this horrific tragedy. Hell, I still can't look at the Manhattan skyline without my eyes being drawn to the hole in the sky where the Towers used to be.
I wonder what I'll see next time I go to Japan. Or won't see.
Tonight ought to be interesting. It's supposed to be a fun night, a let-down-your-hair deal for the DC Journalist Elite. I have a feeling the mood will be pretty somber. How can it not be? There will still be jokes and roasts and laughter and poking fun, but it will be a little hollow.
And as for the President -- I almost wonder if he will even show. I know the Presidency is like show biz -- the Show Must Go On. But sometimes he has to take a pass, to send his apologies and the Vice President or somebody in his stead and go do his job. Lead our Country. Lead the Free World. That's what we pay him to do.
If the President is there tonight, I'm sure his mind won't be. Hell, he probably hasn't slept since the quakes hit, he's probably been locked in the Situation Room pretty much non-stop. I realize my concept of what really goes on in the White House is pretty much based on episodes of The West Wing, but still. The Man has the weight of the world on his shoulders. A world it seems Mother Nature is Hell-Bent on reminding us is hers.
Maybe all this destruction of late is a Karmic warning -- we have to take better care of our planet. If we don't start being kinder, Mother Nature will say "enough" and take it away from us. Wiping out a couple hundred thousand of us parasitic human insects crawling all over her may just be a warning.
That's a scary thought.
Wow. Think maybe I better turn off CNN and find something a little more upbeat. I'm quickly turning into Debbie Downer.
Or maybe I'll just turn off the TV and go dance with my Baby in the shower.
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