Sabrina doesn’t know it yet, but she’s going to be really excited Tuesday to see her “daddy”. Austin comes home Tuesday afternoon and she’ll get to go back to bed with him after breakfast. I’ll have to lift her up on his bed, though. She can’t jump on beds anymore, which I’m not complaining about. I don’t wake up to floating dog hair anymore.
People are traveling in pairs and packs again. It happens every year for the holiday season. They’re hard to maneuver sometimes, but it’s nice to see people smiling and talking to each other, while doing their daily chores.
I’m in the thick of Perspicacity now, thanks to an angel of a friend. It makes me have crazy dreams that carry me back to 1970, 1980, and all the years between and since. Some is fact, some is fiction, but all familiar. It’s been in my head and in bits of files for years.
2008 was an “8” year of preparation. I like the thought of that, because it implies something’s coming. I feel it. I don’t know what it is and I like that feeling, too. I’m working around people who have worked at the same place doing the same thing for 15, 20, 25, 30 years. I can’t imagine that. I know it’s probably an easier life, but it’s just not for me. They all talk in increments of time left until retirement. It’s strange to listen to.
I’m worried about the economy. I’m worried for friends’ jobs. I’m glad Austin’s major is Biology. I think that’s a good choice for the future. I’m worried about my car. I want it to last forever. I love no car bills, cheap insurance, and not worrying about a stone or a loose shopping cart hitting it.
Today has been a little nostalgic and lonely. These days happen. Not very often, for which I’m grateful. I used to enjoy fall until I lived in this neighborhood full of Jewish retirees. They spend hours, days even, doing yard work that they could pay someone to get done in an hour. The man who lives behind me waits until dark, and then mows his backyard for hours and hours until the fallen leaves are pulverized into what has to be leaf smoothies. It’s something to watch.
On my trip, I stopped in a town named Chillicothe, Ohio for gas and watched a woman in a t-shirt and shorts (it was 40 degrees) and a pink feather-boa-type scarf around her neck get gas and go to the restroom and shop in the tiny convenience store. i couldn't take my eyes off of her. She couldn’t have cared less what anyone thought of her. She was proud of herself. I immediately liked her and wanted to know everything about her.
Earlier that same day, I stopped at a McDonald’s near Bluefield, Virginia for an Egg McMuffin, and the man behind the counter apologized for having to give me a huge bag. “I'm so sorry. We’re all out of the normal sized bags.” I didn’t know what to say, but I wanted to hug him. It was so nice after being in the Research Triangle, full of PhDs driving 90mph and cutting each other off, I suppose in their efforts to cure cancer.
I think I could drive back and forth between Knoxville, TN and Asheville, NC for the rest of my life. I wonder if I'd ever tire of it.