Bittersweet...

I finished the book.

I can't believe I finished the book.

Now I am a little sad that I will have no more adventures with my friends.

I am happy and sad about the end.

I am satisfied and still hungry.

I am lost and found.

Well done, J.K. Rowling, well done.

Road trips...

You know going into a road trip that things could happen. You know this and still you get into your 3,000 pound rolling death machine and head out on your happy way.

So, how does four states in six hours sound? Fun? Yep!

I was taking Megan and Shawn back for a rendezvous with their parents when we thought, hey, Kentucky Kingdom is right there in the middle let's meet and have a mini-vaca. (The relaxing one, not the baby cow...)

So, tooling along on our own merry way. We really didn't have a time schedule, but we did want to make it to Kentucky Kingdom before they closed.

We were running late, as usual, and yet I don't think you can quantify time on a mini-vaca, though, so we were tooling.

We are an hour away from our destination and WHAM something flies out the back of the car, it's long and black and now the car is not moving.

I cross over three lanes of traffic quickly and manage to get to the shoulder, barely.

Mike says, "80 miles an hour doesn't seem like it's that fast until you are standing 6 inches from it." Well put.

Can't get the car started. Thankfully we have J's cell phone. I text Jon and Lisa and Jim to let them know what is going on. I was never added to the AAA account and unless Jim is with me and the car, it cannot be utilized.

Called 911, because I was so close to traffic I didn't want to be the one that was arrested for the accident that was bound to occur.

The lady that answered says, "You aren't from around here are you?" Now, what gave it away, my charm? My personality? My striking wit?

She gets all of her information and sends a trooper out.

He looks at the car and says it was probably a belt and calls me a tow truck. My first thought was, will they take a debit card and how expensive is a tow?

Well, the tow was $45 and that was well worth it for the four kids sitting in the cab sharing three seat belts and making jokes about the T-Bird that was tailgating us.

We get to Sears (Sears ROCKS!) and he looks under the hood and says, "It's not your belt."

Tow truck driver says, "Pop the trunk."

Pop the trunk? What the hell is he going to do, see if I can sell the bags I have in there? Get a nice ice cold drink out of our cooler?

Nope, apparently most Ford vehicles are equipped with an "emergency fuel shut-off valve" that if you hit a curb hard or run something over it shuts off the gas to avoid an explosion.

Now, of course the car starts and all is good. Tow truck man is asking me if I ran over something. We look at my back tire and realize that it's missing a 10 inch by 3-4 inch strip of tread. It had stripped off and was flinging alongside the car. Finally it gave way, which is what we saw fly out of the back of my car.

Now, I don't believe in coincidences. The chain of events happened the way they were supposed to.

It is a good thing that the trooper was dumb and didn't really know what he was talking about because Mr. Tow Truck would have hit that switch and sent me on my merry way with four kids in the car at 80 miles an hour on steel-belting. That would have been a recipe for disaster if not fatalities. Sears would have been miles behind us and who knows if the next trooper would have been as kind or if we even would have been able to call anyone. The weirdest part of the entire experience was that the tire stayed intact.

So, as we left Sears I turned right into three lanes of traffic coming at me and after a quick three point turn, we were on our way.

As we turned the corner, we came upon the most beautiful copper faerie. She was about 20 feet tall with pink clematis creating her skirts.

So, the road to Sears led me to the Flower Faerie. No coincidences, ever.

We made it to Kentucky and the hotel and spent our precious little time visiting and trying not to be upset about leaving each other once again.

I am going to miss the little buggers.

Drove home from Kentucky through Indiana and Illinois and stopped there to visit my grandma and aunt. Grandma was so glad to see us and wished we could stay longer. We promised to come and visit again really soon. Finally made it to Wisconsin and home.

On my way home from dropping the kids off, I got pulled over.

It was just a "courtesy" because my front plate is not affixed to the front of my car, it's on my dashboard. Funny how the police and I have different meanings for "courtesy".

He went on to explain how if I drive on any interstate or highway that I would be pulled over because of the "violation".

Funnier still? Four states times two and I get stopped three blocks from home.

Road trip, anyone?

There is always another choice

You don't have to buy from anyone.
You don't have to work at any particular job.
You don't have to participate in any given relationship.
You can choose.

You alone steer the course you choose in the direction of where you want to be today, tomorrow, or in any distant time to come.

You hold the tiller.
You can decide to alter the course of your life at any time.
No one can ever take that away from you.
You can decide what you want and go after it.
It's always your next move.

2007 by Max Steingart

Luxury