Author: Heather

I always wanted to grow up and travel and thought that meant going to other countries. While I'd love to do that, I've found my means limit the scope of my travel. It has caused me to embrace more local and regional travel, with the occasional big trips across parts of the country. I love to write, both for my people who enjoy it and also (selfishly) for myself. Writing lets me experience something multiple times: once as it happens, once as I write, and again any time I return to read it. Now that my kids aren't kids any more, my travel experiences are different. Some trips are me & my man in his Mustang. Others are side adventures with one or more of the "kids". It's a rare treat when I get to experience things with all my people. Beyond travel and writing, I enjoy more things than I have time for. I love listening to music, stargazing, reading, scrapbooking, hiking, swimming, playing music, and just chilling with family or friends. Thanks for joining me on my journey!

The Grand Drive – Pike’s Peak

As we approached this day I got a little worried about Pike’s Peak plans. We had to purchase a time slot in advance, so we had randomly chosen noon. However, the forecast was worse every time I looked at it, and they were calling for snow storms (with 3-5 inches of new snow) up top by noon. So, we decided to go earlier in the day (and just hope they’d let us go in earlier than our slot).

We got up in the morning and the sun was shining-yay! We called the info number, and they said the top third of the mountain was closed for ice and snow showers were expected to start after 10am. Well, we decided to eat breakfast and go anyway about 9:30–hoping the top would be open and it wouldn’t be snowing yet. Things mostly fell into place. They let us in earlier than our ticketed time because it wasn’t too crowded. They had cleared the roads, and it was open all the way to the top (but they told us to go straight up without stops because they couldn’t be sure how long the top would stay open.)

We left Manitou Springs at 6500 feet and worked our way up the mountain. Even going up, it was a bit terrifying albeit exhilarating. We went from partly cloudy 60 degrees all the way up 19 miles to 14,115 feet and mostly heavy clouds at 31 degrees.

The summit was covered by snow–so much so that most of the information plaques were partially buried. They had tunneled out walkways so you could slip and slide to overlooks. We had some of the famous donuts at Pike’s Peak Summit House and enjoyed the visitor center before heading on. There was periodic blowing snow, and the views changed quickly on the overlooks from full clouds to little clear spots peaking through. I had to grab a handful of snow (because I’m an overgrown child) and it was the perfect snow–easy to pack, fluffy when loose, and super sparkly.

The drive down was intimidating before we even started. We had just gone up, so we knew about the many sections with no guardrails, steep drop-offs, and deep descent. However, we felt a little better seeing a Ford Model A and a school bus on the road. (If they can do it, so can we…right?!?) It also helped seeing the snow plow and treatment vehicles continuously running.

Part of the drive down definitely was intense. At first, it was clear. Then some snow blew by. Then thin clouds covered the road. Then thick clouds covered the road. There’s no pulling over or stopping–you’ve just gotta continue forward. Of course, this thick cloud moved in for miles 16 down to 13…which happens to be the most challenging stretch of road. There’s no way you can feel the same intensity through my story because you know (since you’re reading this) that we obviously didn’t drive over the side of the mountain. We didn’t have that certainty at the time.

Despite the few scary moments, it really was a gorgeous ride. I understand how these views inspired the song “America the Beautiful.” Feeling the temperature change (since my window was down for picture taking), watching the sky change, marveling at the change in elevation, having snow blow across my face in mid-June….it was all exhilarating and made me remember how small I am in this big world.

Its hard to write anything after that, but the day did continue. We left the Peak and had lunch at In-N-Out Burger for the first time–cheeseburgers, milkshakes, and animal fries. It was surprisingly great; maybe someday they’ll open some in the east like Whataburger did. If you get a change to visit one out this way, definitely do it, as everything was really fresh and delicious.

After lunch, the skies were darkening and storms were imminent, but we pressed on for the Garden of the Gods. We did the driving tour and the visitor’s center while it drizzled some. I was able to get out at a few spots where there were short walking paths and take pictures of some of the rock formations. I would love to come back here someday and just spend a (nice) day wandering all the trails. Side note: I did see a rattlesnake at one of the rock bases. I didn’t take a pic–I just went the opposite way as fast as possible!

The Grand Drive – Driving CO

Our stay in Clifton was simply delightful. Right out the back door was a view of the Grand Mesa (which is the largest flat-top mountain in the world) and a view of several other nearby mountains. We were also blessed by eggs benedict for breakfast featuring fresh eggs from the friendly resident chickens.

Our first stop was Black Canyon of the Gunnison. This was highly recommended by my dad (so I don’t ignore all his advice). The park elevation is over 8000 feet and the Gunnison River is over 1800 feet below the top rim. Despite that distance, you can hear the river roaring below. I can only imagine how loud the river is when hiking lower in the canyon. There were lots of birds flying around the canyon, from little purple dippers near the trail to peregrine falcons out patrolling the canyon gorge. I only wish we’d had more time here; I’d love to come back in the future to camp, hike, and see the stars.

As we headed east towards Manitou Springs, we experienced more of the stunning lush mountain views like we witnessed yesterday. Along the way, we encountered construction on Highway 50. For five miles, we experienced a one lane, hard pack gravel road where we got to see the incredible work that goes into roads that endure harsh winters, flooding runoffs, and rock slides that take roads out with one drop. You should’ve seen Thom’s face when we saw the sign that said “pavement ends”–nothing like off-roading with the Mustang.

While we waited our turn for the one lane section, we got to witness the wild Colorado weather. It was a beautiful, sunny day with a few clouds, but then we watched a big cloud in the distance moving our way and you could see it snowing up high, then raining as it moved towards us and then over us. The temperature dropped from 65 to 48 in a matter of minutes and then we got pea-sized hail for a good five minutes before it turned back to rain…and then the cloud was gone. Ah, the poor car today!

Part of the drive took us around Blue Mesa Reservoir, which looked almost like the ocean with the wind blowing the water into whitecaps and waves. We were going to have a picnic lunch in this beautiful stretch, but it was 45 degrees and the wind was howling. Rain was moving back in and blowing sideways. So, we went to McD’s in Gunnison for Happy Meals & Guardian of the Galaxy toys, but sadly we got the old swap-a-roo and ended up with a Scuttle from the new Little Mermaid. Hmph

The drive along Highway 50, aka the Loneliest Road, was beautiful from Black Canyon onward. I was so mesmerized that I didn’t really take many pictures and just stared out the window as the miles ticked by. After the drive around the expansive reservoir, we went over the continental divide and around Monarch Mountain, in all it’s snow-dotted beauty at 11,300 feet. As we approached the Rockies, we turned on Co 285, which ran right between the snowy Sawatch mountain range and the Rocky mountain range. We were surrounded by majestic mountains as far as the eyes could see, before crossing the Rockies.

After we checked into our B&B in Manitou Springs, we headed over to Castle Rock (the picture explains the name of the town). We were able to meet up with our niece that lives in Denver, who we haven’t seen in years. We had a delightful dinner at a quaint home-cooking place called the Castle Cafe.

The Grand Drive – Heading North

We left our cute little cabin near the North Rim and hit the road. We drove along the Vermillion Cliffs, through Marble Canyon, across the Colorado River, along Echo Cliffs, and through the Navajo Nation. It was a beautiful ride, especially with the morning fog and the pops of sun as we came out of the canyons.

Our first stop was Monument Valley. It’s so bizarre to see all these individual outcroppings (as opposed to the long canyon walls we’ve been seeing). We only enjoyed the sites around the valley. We didn’t take the 17 mile backcountry drive (gravel and sandy road) as that would be a painful drive for me & the Mustang.

Looking at giant monuments made us hungry, so we found a lunch spot where we could try the much anticipated Navajo taco (aka fry bread taco). This was the best thing I’ve ever eaten! Thom went with a burger in blue corn fry bread with green chili, and it was also delicious. We need fry bread tacos back home!! With full stomachs, we continued onto the next stop.

I don’t often ignore advice my dad gives me, but today I had to go rogue for just a few minutes. We simply had to stop at the tourist trap of the Four Corners. We’ve actually been to all four states (since Monument Valley was in Utah), but that’s not the point. I just can’t resist the cheesy experience of existing in four states at once. And don’t message me about how the lines aren’t quite right…I know all that but choose to be blissfully ignorant.

Next up was a scenic drive through western Colorado. We took the Unaweep Tabeguache Scenic Byway up to Gateway and almost all the way to Clifton, where our B&B was located. The canyon walls, plateaus, mesas, buttes, and spires continued (as we’d seen in New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah). I didn’t realize, before taking this trip, that this whole region was the Colorado Plateau and would have such common features. However, each area had it’s own nuances and beauty. We went through a section with lots of pink mesa, and it was cool to see that the bottom of the clouds were reflecting that pink. We entered a large area called Disappointment Valley, which was such a misnomer–we were surrounded by stunning geology as far as the eye could see! Pretty soon we realized this road was following alongside the curves of the San Miguel River. Turn after turn, we marveled at the sights, watching as the land and walls became more and more lush. We had the road nearly to ourselves, but did have to be careful, as there were cows just hanging out in the road several times. (Side note: we saw cows grazing right on the edge of cliffs. How often does a cow just fall off the cliff???) While there are lots of scenic routes I haven’t taken, I’ve been on quite a few, and I’d have to say this is the most beautiful road I’ve ever traveled.

The Grand Drive – Grand Canyon

Last night, we stayed in one of the coolest glamping spots ever. We slept in a sky dome at the Clear Sky Resort. It was similar to a yurt except one side had a giant window looking into the desert and it had a clear window up top so you could see the stars. (It also had a bathroom–bonus points!) They had tons of activities (day and night) but we didn’t have time to take advantage of that. It would be an awesome place to take the family for a few days. We fell asleep in awe of the stars, and I got up for the desert sunrise. Y’all know I’m more of a sunset girl than a sunrise girl, but how often can you see a desert sunrise? Only problems: sunrise started at 4:15 and it was 38 degrees outside. I took a picture, grumbled about AZ not being on daylight savings time, and went back to sleep, LOL. When we finally did get up, we enjoyed a fantastic breakfast sitting in the desert.

Today was the day for the main destination of our trip, and let me just say that the Grand Canyon did not disappoint. We rode the bus lines to a few overlook spots and, even though we saw part of the canyon last night, it was still overwhelmingly beautiful and awe-inspiring.

Fun side note to the canyon views: we saw some cool wildlife today. We heard clicking in the trees at the overlooks and finally spotted the source–cicadas. We saw a prairie dog that was so adorable that I failed to quickly pull out the phone and get a picture. We also saw elk several times along the road.

Now back to the canyon. Thom blessed me with the freedom to “ditch him for the ditch,” and I walked the Rim Trail from one visitor center to the other. This walk was absolutely stunning, as I went from one outcropping to another, with ever-changing views. I suspect a lot of my pictures look the same, as pictures don’t do justice to your actual eyes, so you just need to come see this for yourself. The sun was warm, the wind was blowing, I was alone more often than not on the trail, and the cicadas were clacking. I was constantly mesmerized by the beauty of this place. I met back up with Thom after my 90 minute journey (he journeyed the overlook bus lines), and we had a fantastic lunch (while looking at the canyon) at El Tavor. After that, we hit the road for the North Rim.

The road to the North Rim was phenomenal. There were many stretches where it felt like we were driving through the Grand Canyon as we were surrounded by towering rock on all sides. Then, suddenly we would be in flat plains (and one time watched a dust storm blowing parallel to us). We crossed the Colorado River and then started climbing upwards. Some of the tight turns were right next to boulders and it truly felt like a Cars canyon-driving moment. As we went up further, the trees changed to bright white firs and dark towering aspens. We also saw snow on the side of the road going to the North Rim! We ended up at our cabin for the evening, just outside the North Rim, at an elevation of 8800 feet. We went from the mid-80s in the South to low-60s in the North.

We headed to the North Rim to picnic and watch the sunset. There was no rain tonight, so we got a little different view. The North Rim was more remote, more natural, had more trees, had much steeper trails, but was beautiful in it’s own right. From the Bright Angel overlook, it was clear enough to see the mountains of San Francisco in the distance. It was amazing to watch the shadows grow upwards and the sun went down. As the sun got lower, little spots throughout the canyon looked like they were on fire, and the clouds and other parts of the canyon turned lovely shades of blues and purples. It was such a beautiful end to a perfect day.

The Grand Drive – Last Push West

Before leaving Albuquerque, we headed to Piedras Marcades Canyon. I got a two mile hike in, discovering petroglyphs, while Thom got a checkup on the car. It was amazing to be a mile out into the desert. I couldn’t see or hear anything but nature for awhile. It was really cool to see the petroglyphs placed here by the Puebloans 500-700 years ago. Many are fading from the sun, wind, and rain, so it was good to see this piece of history before it’s gone.

Next up was the Petrified Forest National Park. This place blew my mind and far exceeded my expectations. It’s hard to imagine how the Grand Canyon could beat the multitude of views this park offered. We picnicked in the painted desert section of the park. For the second time today, I marveled at how the sun was beating down on me and felt delightfully warm, yet I wasn’t hot. I guess there’s something to that whole humidity thing being the problem.

We drove the 28 mile road through the park, stopping at overlooks and marveling at how each curve in the road seemed to bring about an entirely different landscape. Of special note was the Painted Desert, Newspaper Rock (where you could see hundreds of petroglyphs through binoculars), Blue Mesa, and the Crystal Forest. The drive was made even more fun by the Gold Rush Rally going on–we saw millions of dollars worth of sports cars including Corvettes, Lambos, Porsches, Ferraris, Mclarens, Ford GT, and maybe a Pagani Huarya. On the last leg of the park, we came upon a dust devil. I took a quick picture (which doesn’t do it justice) and then it traveled right over the car!

Continuing west, we were going right past Winslow AZ, so of course we had to pull off and take some pictures. Thom also made sure to get a pic of a “girl in a…Ford making eyes at me.” 🙂

We got checked into our Sky Dome at the Clear Sky Resort (coolest place ever) and then headed to the Grand Canyon South Rim for sunset and the annual Star Party. I had done some research and decided we wanted to go to Hopi Point for the sunset. We were going to have to find parking, get to one of the bus lines, and ride a bus over. However, in talking about our plans at the resort check-in, one of the guys gave us a code to get in the gate (so we could just drive to Hopi Point). We gathered picnic items and headed out to the canyon. I have to say, when we got out at our spot on the canyon, it was so beautiful that it was truly breathtaking. For an hour, we got to watch rain clouds go over parts of the canyon and we got to see various stellar moments of sunset (despite some heavy clouds). Since we drove, we got some pics of the Mustang at the canyon too…before heading off to enjoy the star presentations.

The Grand Drive – Land of Enchantment

Day 3 was a little different as we spent the whole day in New Mexico, discovering this mesmerizing Land of Enchantment. Since we ended yesterday with cold springs, we decided to start today with the Montezuma Hot Springs. We tried several of the springs and they were various levels of “hot tub temps”. But one of them, the Lobster Pot, was so hot that I could barely dip my toes in (120 degrees!) The warm mineral water felt amazing and it was surrounded by lush forest and a babbling brook. On the way out, we discovered a cool outcrop where I was able to walk out and enjoy yet another gorgeous view.

We left the springs and drove towards the mountains through the valley. We made our next stop at the National Scouting Museum at Philmont Scout Ranch. Working with Scouts has been a big part of my life for over 15 years, so this was a really cool stop for me. It was also meaningful since my dad went to Philmont; it was neat to see a place where he had a journey once upon a time.

After the scout museum, we embarked on the Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway, which loops around Wheeler Peak. We drove through Eagle Next, Angel Fire, Taos, and up to the Taos Ski Valley. Thise drive had it all–winding mountain roads, valleys, mountain lakes, and even some snow-capped mountains. It’s funny that the highest elevation I’ve been to (Clingman’s Dome at just over 6500 feet) is the same elevation as the valleys in the area. The highest we got was the Taos Ski Valley at 9200 feet (but the ski lift would’ve taken us up over 3000 more feet).

Our next stop was at the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. It was quite windy standing on the bridge 650 feet above the river. Heights don’t normally phase me, but my stomach did some flips looking into the gorge.

I didn’t talk about our day 2 hotel, as it was just a good old standard Holiday Inn. However, we ended day 3 with a stay in Albuquerque at the Painted Lady Bed & Brew. This was an old saloon and brothel built in the 1880s. Our room, which used to be the front of the bar, still had the old floors (refinished) and was filled with old art and historical info. It is allegedly haunted, but the spirits didn’t bother us! There was the Ghostlight Saloon (converted bus) for Hoppy Hour and they had a beautiful courtyard with games, fire pit, and great spots to just relax. Really cool place!

The Grand Drive – Westward Bound

We survived the janky motel last night. The bed felt like it might have once taken quarters, as it was comically shaky. It had a weird aroma featuring a mixture of cigarettes from another era, pot, and bleach. The room coffee pot just boiled the water in the reservoir and leaked around the edges (only producing one of the four cups of water into coffee). The front office didn’t have coffee, but it did have coolers of live fish. Well, it seemed like they actually cleaned things and the toilet worked, so we’ll call it a win.

We headed out early with almost 650 miles ahead of us, departing AK and entering OK. Shortly after crossing the state line, we saw a disturbingly massive bank of dark clouds. Then my weather alert went off to warn us of a severe thunderstorm with straight-line winds, hail, and a chance of tornadoes. Luckily, we just had heavy rain, wind, and lightning but that was quite the storm for 8 in the morning. It was a good opportunity to sing the Oklahoma song lyrics, “Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plain…”  

Although we’re only on day 2, we’ve sufficiently worn out all the cheesy road observations we tend to say. We’ve yelled “hey” at the hay bales and remarked “look at that ass” to the donkeys. We’ve pointed out the cows with either “ground beef” (for those laying down) or “click clack moo” (for those standing around in a huddle). We’ve even resorted to singing the Ren & Stimpy classic Log Song at the passing log trucks. I know–this really makes you want to be on a road trip with us. LOL

As we continued through OK, the sun came out and the clouds became friendly. It was at that moment that we understood the OK car tag design. The blue tag perfectly matched the baby blue sky. The white abstract bird image on the tag matched the wispy white clouds spotting the sky here and there. Try as I might, I didn’t find a bird-shaped cloud in the sky. OK was a beautiful state, and I loved seeing thousands of windmills throughout the landscape. (I tried to get an “up close” picture, and the windmill seemed so close in life but looks comically far away in the picture.) We also saw the largest cross I’ve ever seen.

Before leaving OK, we headed over to part of Route 66 and went to the National Route 66 Museum in Elk City. In addition to the museum, they had a whole city block full of historical buildings that had been transplanted from places all along Route 66. It was cool to stroll through and fun to see families with kids running around imagining themselves in the pretend world. My kids would’ve loved this place when they were younger–I could almost envision little Lizzy running her brothers around to play school, pretend shop, visit the movie theater, etc. As a note, there seems to be hundreds of “official” Route 66 museums, and we even stumbled upon Mater at another location. 

Back on the road, we quickly came upon Texas. In addition to windmills, we occasionally saw these weird tire mountains. It looked like someone had made huge strawberry plant mounds (with the white plastic covering) and then buried tires in them. Is this some sort of TX recycling??

Our next stop was Cadillac Ranch. We came prepared with our spray paint but, sadly, flooding from this morning made it impossible to reach the cars without stepping into water and, most assuredly, deep Texas mud. It was still a cool site to see, and we painted on the ground and some walls to be part of things. I also had a bracelet to retire, as it was falling apart. It was a match to one Lizzy and I got together in summer 2019, so I couldn’t just throw it away. Instead, Thom and I painted it with our green and purple paint and tied it on the fence where people left all sorts of mementos. It seemed fitting to leave it near the colorfully painted Crocs. 🙂

Approaching New Mexico, the landscape changed to absolutely nothing but road and nature as far as the eye could see (which was a pretty long way). There was prairie with growing ridgelines here and there on each side of the road. There weren’t even any windmills! This is what they mean by wide open spaces!

We had one final stop of the day–The Blue Hole. Apparently this dive locations is world-famous for its cave system at the bottom of the hole (going from 80 feet deep to nearly 200 feet deep). In addition to divers coming and going, there was a spot for cliff jumping in the hole and then plenty of room for swimming or snorkeling. It was beautiful, fun to snorkel, and extremely refreshing at a cool 61 degrees!

Let the Grand Drive Begin

On New Year’s Day, sitting around my mom’s table, the predictable question went around: “What’s everyone’s plans for 2023?” Thom quickly piped up and proclaimed that he was taking his woman to see the Grand Canyon. This was news to me, but thus the journey began.

I originally had a big “Out West” road trip planned for summer 2020. The kids and I were going to camp across the West for nearly a month, and Thom was going to meet us for part of it. As with many things in 2020, that trip fell apart. Since that time, the Galloway kids have scattered and it’s quite tricky to get us all in one place for a weekend, much less a month. So, I had mentally given up on this trip ever happening. Thom is full of surprises though and often seems to know my inner thoughts that even I don’t know. He decided to make it happen and stated it in front of others, knowing that would keep me from justifying any postponement of the trip (due to money, time, or not being able to do the trip with the kids).

Over the course of the last few months, we’ve gone from idea to loose planning to booking plans. Thom even got me a giant atlas for the planning (as he knows I love a good map). We added Pike’s Peak to the top goal along with the Grand Canyon. We knew we had a max 10 days available and just filled in the schedule with other cool spots to visit and scenic roads to drive.

Today took us from Kennesaw to Ozark, Arkansas (five states in one day!). The first stretch of road was filled with me doing my nails since I ran out of time before the trip but wanted to look my best on this long date. (Shout out to Stephanie Ann Jones and her Color Street Nails. There’s no way I could do my nails in the car otherwise.)

We had some scenic roads in North Georgia, raced a train in Alabama, and crossed the Tennessee River on the way to a new-to-me Buc-ee’s in Athens, AL. Buc-ee’s to Memphis was the Bee Line Highway, aptly named as it was a straight line between the two. There wasn’t much but corn fields and then this weird place in Mississippi called an Attendance Center (that looked like an old prison with a playground out front). Apparently that’s a school??

Our Memphis stop was at a place called Central BBQ. The decor was a fun picnic vibe but with lots of music art. They had Memphis soul music keeping things lively as well. We sampled each others meals and I can say the classic Memphis rubs were awesome; it was some of the most flavorful BBQ I’ve ever had.

We left lunch, passing the Memphis Pyramid and crossing the wide waters of the Mississippi River. (Side note-I failed to blog about my quick trip through the midwest in 2021. We went to the Memphis Pyramid and it was super fun.) We settled in for a few hours along I-40 with an episode of History of Rock Music in 500 Songs. While technically the episode was about the Byrds, there was a lot of discussion of jazz, bebop, and soul–seemed extra fitting for our Memphis visit.

Once we got out of Memphis, we finally escaped the haze coming from the Canadian fires, but quickly entered gloomy clouds and occasional rain. Despite the dreary weather, we pulled off I-40 just east of Clarksville (which randomly happens to be a nuclear evacuation route…good to know?). We also passed Ozone Burgers, which Thom aptly named the Stabbing Shack–it was a run-down building surrounded by these weird creepy trees that were black and had leafless branches reaching straight upward, so like something out of a horror movie (and we never saw trees like this again on the drive). Anyway… we took the Ozark Highlands Scenic Byway up into the Ozark Mountains and then cut west to take the Pig Tail Scenic Highway back south to I-40. We had no GPS signal and were warned with multiple signs that the road was “Very Crooked & Steep”, but that’s the kind of road we love. However, it was raining lightly most of the drive. While wet roads aren’t as much fun, we drove in and out of the clouds in the mountains and through lush forest regions…and we had the road to ourselves. It was a different experience that we expected, but it was still breathtakingly beautiful.

We ended the day in Ozark with dinner at the Hillbilly Hideout (weird location but great food) and a sufficient hotel. The sign says “Luxury Accommodation” but I think that was put up in the 60s. All in all, it was a long, good day. We moved about 700 miles in 14 hours (including all the stops). Time to hit the hay and start a new journey tomorrow!

The Pandemic’s New Normal

It’s kinda jaw-dropping to think back over the past few months. Things that were a year or two ago feel so far away and so foreign that it almost feels like another life–someone else’s life. It’s so odd to look back and see that I called Covid an epidemic in my last post. I was so hopeful for things to be over soon, yet we’ve now gone through two more huge waves with this thing, each one unimaginably larger and worse than the last. Similarly, it’s bizarre to know I last posted while on the cusp of shifting attitudes about life, the virus, and politics. The darkness I was starting to see didn’t scratch the surface of where it all went. As much as I thought I was going to write about life and experiences during the pandemic, I couldn’t bring myself to do so. I didn’t want to be fake and only talk about the positive, and I didn’t want to talk about all the darkness of this world.

I figured I’d be sitting down tonight to write all the details of things that have happened since I last wrote–both with myself and in the world around me. Now that I’m at the computer, that seems pointless and trite. Most everyone I know has experienced the full gamut of emotions and frustrations. Life seems to both be racing forward and leaving us behind as we tend to cling to what “should” be going on right now. In this new normal, milestones and moments aren’t happening as imagined. It feels like nothing will ever be “normal” again. Way too many people seem to be what used to be the fringe–selfish, thoughtless, mean, & heartless. We the people are allowing entertainers (people making money off “clicks” or “views”) to fill us with lies, and we’re ripping ourselves apart. All the while, the majority (I have to hope and believe that is still true) are trying to do the right things and are so saddened by the state of things in our country.

I hope and pray with all of my being that this time I’m writing on the cusp again–on the cusp of renewal, healing, and positivity everywhere. I’ve recently taken a (nearly) month-long break from all social media. It wasn’t to protest anyone or anything. It was to join my church in an annual “fasting” to remove something that tends to be important to me and replace it with some soul-nourishing time. I was all set to join my small group of ladies in fasting (everyone chose whatever they needed fasting from) and in studying the book of Proverbs together. Ironically, the app we were using had you connect with friends via Facebook and my friend request never connected for some reason. I wasn’t going to break my own promise even to “just” go on FB to try and figure it out. I decided to just go it alone.

I enjoy several social media platforms, mainly for the fun and connection with people I can’t see very often (including my college kids). In a time where I see very few people, this was an especially big sacrifice. I knew it would be hard, but I had no idea how hard it would actually be. I walked away on the evening of January 10th and was supposed to return on February 1st. Problem was, I didn’t quite finish the whole book, so I decided I wouldn’t get back on until the reading was done. There have been moments where I’ve wanted to give up. I’ve missed the connections (and the Bernie memes!) and at moments the reading left me frustrated. I’m stubborn though, so I doubled down.

From my reading, I learned to be patient with the repetitiveness of Proverbs. I’ve read the Bible through before, so none of it’s new, which makes it even harder to focus on and not gloss through. Some moments the reading was frustrating (like, did I just read the same chapter twice or are they just copying/pasting phrases all over the place?). Other moments the reading was annoying (like, I don’t need to know about the adulterous woman–that’s not me). But then I settled down. I started pondering a little deeper, like why are we harping on wisdom? (It has to be mentioned 50 or more times in those 31 little chapters.) Desiring wisdom seems like common sense to me, but then I apply that thought to the world around me and see that it clearly isn’t common sense. So I understand it’s harped on because it’s so essential. Even with the adulterous woman, I can see the comparison to so many other things where “persuasiveness can lead you astray”. (I might could write a whole political paper on that one phrase.) I got to the end and loved the “Wife of a Noble Character”. I relate to a few parts of her (not just because she wears purple). I wish I were more like her and it gives me a reminder to strive towards more. My reading reminded me of the importance of humility, grace, kindness, giving, and striving towards wisdom. Bigger than all that, I realized that Jesus’ words were there way back in the Old Testament, spelled out through so many of the sayings in Proverbs–Love your neighbor as yourself. It sounds so simple until you think about how much you love yourself. I move forward working to do better with that simple, yet incredibly difficult, ideal.

As to this crazy world we’re living in right now, I can’t predict what’s next. I hope that people will follow the words of our current President (whether they like him or not) and work towards coming together. Our country can do such great things when we come together. I hope that this virus subsides into something more manageable and less deadly. I hope that we get to see great innovations come out of this historic time period. I hope that our country makes strides towards a place where all are treated equally and anyone wanting to work a full time job can do so–and can live off of that wage. Lofty hopes, I know.

Me personally? I’m so blessed and thankful right now. We’re okay on the big life stuff. I would love to see Alex sing again in person, and I want him to make this summer’s trip to Norway. I would love to see Lizzy play again in person, and I’d like her to get some normal college class interactions. I would love to see Brandon play again in person, and I want to take him on a college tour trip, like I did with the others. I want to be able to go out to a normal dinner with my hubby. I want to go on a trip with my fam, whether it’s the west coast trip we had planned or something else. I want to see all my other family without all the complicated pandemic “feelings”. Most of all, I still want lots of warm hugs.

Love all of you that support my nonsense (and my sanity) by encouraging me to write!

A Day in the Life – Coronavirus Epidemic Edition

If you’re anything like me, you relate to things in terms of music. I hear my current situation in the feelz behind the words or theme of a song. Or a song title speaks to the current moment. Before you think I’m gonna get too deep, I’ll lay out some lyrics:

“I don’t know what the world may want, but some words of wisdom could comfort us; think I’ll leave that up to someone wiser”  –Cracker*  (for post-GenX kids, this was a band, not a racial slur, lol)

So if you’re reading this to get some wisdom and poetic insight into our current madness, this prolly isn’t your kind of post.

It’s easy to just assume everyone thinks/feels/deals the same as I do. That’s a human weakness. And while I try not to fall into that trap, I sometimes find myself surprised–no, shocked–by something someone says that blows up my perceptions. In light of that, I  don’t believe we all are experiencing the Covid pandemic exactly the same.  One of the highlights to the current situation is that I learn something new about people in my (wide) circle every single day.  I’ve enjoyed others’ stories so much that I thought I would keep sharing about mine.

Thom is newly managing a pretty large group of engineers and technicians in the IT field.  Trying to help a number of Atlanta-based businesses to suddenly put everyone onto completely virtual workstations has kept him busy. It has become mostly work from home, but it’s challenging and the days are long (and then sometimes the day keeps texting well into bedtime). He’s so tired that he bailed out of a D&D online game with friends & Brandon two weeks in a row (but he’s back with the gang tonight).  I’m keeping maybe one nostril above water right now. There are moments where I feel like I’m drowning under the pounding waves–each time I get my footing and feel like I can swim out, I get knocked over by a new wave. And each time I get knocked over, I get weaker and weaker.

Let me just say, I KNOW it could be so much worse. A million ways worse. We could be out of jobs. We could be working jobs in dangerous situations (like the angels that we call doctors, nurses, scientists, and all the others who are working to save as many lives as possible). We could be sick. We could be homeless. We could be utterly alone.  There are so many ways it could be worse that I can’t count them.

I have been through stuff in the last year that less than a handful of people know 100% of. I’ve clawed out of some of that stuff to some extent. But then for the last three months of the year I worked two jobs, one that I gave ridiculous notice to, out of some sort of respect and kindness that I believed was mutual. The other was a new job in a new environment with a completely different field of work than I’ve ever done. I can only believe it was my grit that got me the job, as it certainly wasn’t because of experience specific to the job. (Side note: Be careful what you say you’re “never” going to do because whatever your youthful self says will surely set what your older self will, in fact, be doing.) So, I was never going to do accounting (insert yawn here). My advisor at UGA (and my grandpa Jolly) wanted me to go into actuarial science. I thought that sounded like the most boring thing on the planet. (Sorry Thom, we could’ve been money rich!)  Funny thing is, I love what I’m doing. It fits in my desired job sweet spots: involved with decisions at a high level, small business, a wide-variety of tasks, and a schedule that is family-raising-friendly. Despite loving the job, it’s still overwhelming as I’m trying to dust off those accounting principles from 20+ years ago in business school.

So I got through the tornado of two jobs and the holidays and honestly, it allowed me to avoid dealing with the earlier life junk. Of course that’s never good but I believe you’ve sensed my mantra: will I never learn? Then I rolled into the post-Christmas and pre-winter break weirdly-fast time period. I wrote last week about that break and the cruise and my arrival on land with some sort of terrible virus. Well, what’s extra weird is the timing of all this for me personally.  I didn’t feel like normal until over two weeks later, and then I had a beautiful weekend in Athens celebrating my talented daughter and her peers from across the state. I had a wonderful time with some of my band mom peeps plus a concert and a meal alongside family, friends, and a wonderful lady new to my life (who reminds me, in spirit, of my grandma–fun, loving, and wise). We came home and had a few days of trying to catch up on everything that fell behind during the break, my illness, and the trip. But then I’m trying to find cleaning supplies for work and there’s all this talk of people hoarding supplies for this outbreak. And then I go to a conference with government folks and there are lots of last minute cancellations. And all anyone can talk about is the virus. And Rome is also out of typical cleaning supplies. So I decide to bail on a scout banquet where I was getting an award, and I decide to go to Lizzy’s first night of the musical, Chicago. I planned to go Saturday, but things felt weird, so I followed my bizarre instincts (and Thom went along with my “craziness”). By the time we got to the school, word was already out that school was shutting down Monday “until further notice” and that we would only get the one night of the musical.

The musical was fantastic, but then people were being awkward afterwards (avoiding hugs and handshakes). Everyone was lamenting that it was their one and only show and talking about how the next (and turns out last) school day was going to be weird. Somewhere on that drive home I felt like I slid behind the veil of life.  Ever since that night, I’ve had to ask myself, daily, Is this Real?!? If I ponder it too long, I start wondering if anything has been real since I came home from that cruise. Some days, it’s almost easy to imagine that I died that last feverish stormy night at sea. That means this is certainly not Heaven, so it must be Hell. Then I imagine that Hell would prolly be much worse, so maybe this is Hell on Earth. When my mind goes down this path, I either cry myself back up to ground level or I realize I’m sinking and start reminding myself of everything I have to be thankful for.

The trick about all this for me, and maybe others of you out there, is that right now I learn the hard way. I pull up to the bar of wallowing. Even though I know it’s worse for me, I purposely choose to enter the darkness and sit with Misery–she comforts me. Don’t get me wrong, I make the right choice sometimes; I go for a walk, put on music that’s light & bright, do some yoga stretches, work on a puzzle, rock on the porch at dusk, or do something else healthy.

Every day has seemed to carry more weird or scary news. Cobb schools were closed “until further notice” which seemed like something out of a dystopian novel. But most surrounding schools were closed for just two weeks, so it seemed like we had a timeline. We lamented several concerts and prom that would be missed in the last part of March, but it was (at first) unspoken as “see ya after spring break”.  Then, nearly every day still, there was something cancelled and marked off our calendars.  Things progressed to shelter-in-place for Cobb to then a more serious sounding SIP from Georgia. Every time someone talked about the time needed before this ends, in seemingly mere moments someone else would talk of longer. It went from two weeks (end of March) to mid-April, to end of April, to Mid-May. And now Brandon’s driver’s test for May 22nd is cancelled, so obviously the government thinks we’re still in the thick of things until the end of May. This is my 4th week of working/living exclusively at home–and we might need 7 more???  I mean, the logical part of me knows that Wuhan and other areas were shut down for about 11 weeks, but the ME part of me wants no part in those thoughts.

I’ve been throwing lots of mental tantrums lately. I don’t want Easter at home (I’ve ALWAYS been with my mom). I don’t want Lizzy’s 18th birthday, prom, concerts, celebrations, yearbook signing, honors night, baccalaureate, and graduation to all be unavoidably altered by this virus. I don’t want Brandon to miss concerts and celebrations, to delay his Eagle project, to miss MomoCon, to miss band leadership sessions, to have a strange 16th birthday, or to be delayed on his drivers’ test. I don’t want to go any longer without seeing my big ol’ crazy family. I don’t want to miss our west coast road trip. I don’t want to imagine summer without time in PTC, in Sky Valley, at the beach. I’m mentally like a child laying on the floor kicking her hands & feet, yelling, and turning red. Maybe, like that child, I just need a long bit of true rest–the kind of rest a toddler has after a busy day where they’re dead to the world and drooling. I am trying to take better care of myself, but there’s so much going on that it’s hard to do.

I haven’t been watching the news except very occasionally and briefly. It’s really weird not to have a traffic report every 10 minutes in Atlanta. I can’t absorb the numbers of this pandemic, as they seem to double every few days. It’s weird to hear that America is still/again (depending on your politics) #1…but that’s in number of cases and deaths among other countries of the world (including China, which seemed like a nightmare just seeing them on the news many weeks ago).  And, yes, I know that you can often make any numbers work in your favor, but it’s surreal to hear it even if there are errors in the numbers. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure there are positive stories on the news (as everyone’s grasping at anything that brings a little hope), but I can’t wade through the cold dark waters right now.

I have been on social media more, as it’s one of the few ways to connect with people right now. Funny enough, most of the political garbage I had been seeing was mostly gone (at least until this week). People were doing those surveys that are bad for your privacy but good for getting to know someone.  Others were sharing resources–everything from “check out this free museum tour” to “here’s how to make your own disinfecting wipes” to “here are some homeschooling tips that might help”. Some were posting stories of kindness and moments of thankfulness.  Some were posting silly jokes and memes and not really mean, sarcastic, or political ones (again, before this week). This week I’ve seen a turn on my feeds. There’s more anger at the government (both on under-reacting and over-reacting). There’s more political/agenda type discussions. There’s more worry as increasing numbers of people lose their jobs in some manner. There’s more stress as some people are starting to run low on certain supplies that are in low supply (toilet paper being the funny yet important American staple that tops the lottery-winning level of acquisition skill needed). There’s confusion as we try to discern why it’s acceptable to have grocery aisles open (when stores could go to pick-up or delivery orders only), yet the local parks are closed. There’s frustration when all the different levels of government seem to contradict one another–almost daily. There is disgust from someone no matter where you fall in all this.  At first, we came together as people, much like right after 9/11. But it feels like that Americana fabric is starting to tear at itself once again. Heaping on the pile of unbelievable stuff, there seems to be a growing amount of rebellious talk, all in the name of hashtag freedom. Catchphrases are starting to circulate about “survival of the fittest” and “economy first” that really makes me wonder if I landed in Alice in Wonderland and took the red pill. I really hope we’re not jumping into Lord of the Flies. Heck, the literature analogies are making me wonder if I’m Thursday Next in a new Jasper Fforde book.  🙂

On a more positive note, there are silver linings on all these clouds. One, quite literally, is that the seemingly incessant rain stopped.  Even though it brought the gosh-darn pollen, it also brought out the sunshine. If I sit on the porch with the sun shining in on my face, I can almost pretend I’m somewhere else in time. Another is that people feel more connected in a weird way. Technology (Zoom being the biggest impact) has been embraced in a way I’ve never seen before. I’m checking in on more  people than I did before (and more people are checking on me). It’s refreshing, and it’s something I hope continues after all this.  I do think I’ll appreciate a good many things more:  traveling, time with family, eating out at a restaurant, walking through the park, and hugs. While there’s much more to unpack in all this, I’ll leave it right there. I’m looking forward to the day when I can give you all some warm hugs.  ❤