we're at the point in the trip where i needed to have a heart-to-heart talk with selkie about being more flexible and allowing us to help her. in tears, she told me that "i just need to be by myself! i haven't played with my invisible friends in SO LONG! i wish we were at our house and i was in the front yard playing with them RIGHT NOW!"
i so appreciate her need for solitude.
the middle of the trip calls for delicate phrasing, patience and more humor. when milo yells at his computer from the back seat, telling us for the umpteenth time that "this is so glitchy!" while we curse the makers of minecraft, it is up to us to take deep breaths and find a point ahead of us to focus on. when he can't find his ANYTHING and starts to panic; again, breathing is encouraged. and when he asks us to have a drink of our water because his is missing (it's not) and we refuse, telling him to find his, which he doesn't, and then out of desperation drinks from a 2-day old orange juice bottle; it is up to us to find the humor in the situation and not shame him for his incredible laziness or inability to take care of himself.
no indeed. we just all breathe.
i haven't exercised in five days, and my body is crying out for it. i'm not good at sitting.
we've entered that part of the country where people talk different than us. where they think different, even. where there is racist chicken (bojangles! famous chicken and biscuits!) and homophobic chicken (chik-fil-a). there are lots of billboards about meth ruining families, as well as signs ordering to "choose life!" with a picture of a happy, fat, white baby.
oh, we choose life, yes we do.
i admit i take great pleasure passing any car that has a bumper sticker that i don't like on it. that romney/impeach obama truck yesterday? see ya, sucka! "'cause THAT'S how we do it in van nuys!" is our "passing assholes" catchphrase.
i'm sure they are very nice people. they're just misguided and wrong.
this morning we're heading into downtown nashville to eat at khan's bakery, a vegan joint. we'll check out the opry by car and then head outta town. we're making tracks today, en route to get to austin tomorrow to spend a couple of days with our best friend clay. and to borrow his washer and dryer.
at this point in the trip, we are grateful for cloudy days that give us shelter from the sun. we're grateful for chain restaurants like chipotle and qdoba, who save our vegan/vegetarian/meateating butts amongst the endless cracker barrels and shoneys. and we're grateful for firm mattresses in hotels.
i need a chiropractor, and a massage, and about seventeen new cds to listen to. i'm so old school.
we're gettin' there. that's what i keep telling the kids. we're gettin' there.
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