Day One: Columbus, Ohio

Well, Day 1 of 6 is complete, and it was a pleasure of a day! I awoke in my sweet little condo, which I grew increasingly fond of as my time to leave (briefly?) drew near. I did a very precise job of packing the Honda Fit (whose name, for those of you who don't know, is Veronica Fiona), leaving one of the back seats down and making a bed for The Dog, of which I was rather proud! It was so cute! AND everything fit. The Dog, however, had other ideas. After maintaining her "worried" look, which any dog owner would recognize ("am I coming with you this time? if I look cute, could I come with you? would you like any help that would require me to hop in the car now? Now? NOW???),  she was overjoyed when I snapped her leash on and led her out to the car. The adorable worried look soon changed to a look of, dare I say, derision? when she saw the cozy seat, which was not up to The Dog's Standards of Size and Comfort. So, sighing deeply, I repacked V. F. in a far less organized manner so that The Dog could have the passenger side front seat. Which was not covered with anything so nice as a dog bed. She looked pretty happy...until we got underway and she realized that the front seat IS NOT comfortable for a dog. We drove most of our eight hours with her nose pressing against my right ribcage, which made her happy and me cold with strangely placed wet spots. :) She's now happily dozing in the corner of our lovely room at the Drury Hotels in downtown Columbus, Ohio.

 The highlight of the day was to stop in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to see J, A and their daughter,  E. It is always SO marvelous to see them. E had grown SO MUCH since I'd seen her last year, and was such a perfect mix of J and I  with a personality all her own. She was smart, charming, grumpy (late nap time, thanks to Aunt K!), adorable (with HEAVY emphasis on adorable!!) and in love with The Dog. It was so neat to see my two dear friends and their equally dear daughter. The Dog enjoyed the time being "touched" by E and reconnecting with her old buddy, Molly the Dog. Hopefully she isn't cognizant enough to think every day will be like that. :) I enjoyed connected with dear friends. There just isn't anything like falling back into easy conversation with smart, kind, awesome people who you're lucky enough to be friends with. J made a DELICIOUS beef stew, and we sat outside in the sun and talked. It occurred to me, while we sat there, that THIS is what life is about: connections and friendship that run deeper than time or distance, that are a true delight to the soul. My soul was filled up with the E's, and made the rest of the drive to Columbus heavy on smiles and wonderful memories!

  So I am now in Columbus, Ohio. I have made it to my Day One goal! I'm at the Drury Inn right next to the Convention Center, and am ready to clean my face, brush my teeth and gorge myself on disgusting (but wonderful!) reality TV of the Real Housewives variety. Since I don't have cable at home, and won't have a TV for the next 3 months, you can be DARN sure I'm going to take advantage of free hotel cable to watch crap!

 One last thought: Cousin MG is still in the ICU. She's spiked a fever and her white count is elevated. An elevated white count means that (unless they're banded neutrophils, indicating short term immune response time), her body has been fighting an infection and is now trying to mount a response. She's scheduled for surgery Monday. Please send all your good thoughts/wishes/meditations towards my cousin/aunt, a woman who deserves to come through this tragedy and laugh again with her loved ones, as I was lucky enough to do today with my friends.

 Tomorrow: Davenport, Iowa and the C's!!

Neuro Intact

MG is following commands!! Neuro intact!! This is a huge, HUGE triumph. And her husband's blog is some of the best writing and example of deep, abiding love I've ever read (raymelick.blogspot.com). Whatever higher power or energy or God(s) you believe in, this is truly a miracle and a blessing. To have had that kind of an accident and neuro and cardiac intact is just unbelievable. Hooray!

Leavin' in Honda Fit.....Don't Know When I'll Be Back Again

So I'm heading out on a Road Trip!!! At the tender (?) age of 32, I'm leaving my home on the East Coast and drive cross-country to the Pacific Northwest! As I came of age in the PNW, I'm eager to return: to hike, sit in coffee shops, laugh with friends from long ago, and (maybe?) see how I fit in the place I have always considered my heart's home. Well, actually, I consider the Chesapeake Bay my heart's home, but I think it is okay to have two places...the heart can expand in so many ways. It's temporary...at least for right now.

 So here I am, five days away from leaving, blogging on my website whose URL I haven't shared with anyone, listening to my Pandora Adele/Dave Matthews custom radio station, rather than packing. Which I REALLY need to do. But I'm REALLY enjoying procrastinating right now, so it'll get done...eventually. ;)

 These moments and this last week with friends on the East Coast is even more bittersweet knowing someone I love and respect is lying in an ICU. When people you think so highly of are experiencing incredibly painful, uncertain and challenging circumstances, it makes you aware of how lucky you are. As Kahlil Gibran argues, "The deeper sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain." It is just a strange juxtaposition when experiencing both simultaneously, and in no way as deeply as her husband and children. It's a blessing to be able to see "regular life" as beautiful, which is a gift out of this tragedy.

Reminder

When I was a kid, my mom, who is one of eight children in an Irish-Catholic family, used to call all her sisters and her mom every Saturday morning. She'd be on the phone for almost 2 hours at a time, and I'd roll my eyes and wonder what on Earth it was that they could talk about for so long. We called it the Flannery Gossip Chain, and over the years it has become both an inside joke and also a lifeline that has grown to include the "kids" including myself and assorted spouses and partners.

  Yesterday afternoon, I got a Flannery Gossip Chain email that one of my mom's cousins was on the way to the airport to see her family in St. Louis, and was hit by a drunk driver who ran a red light and into the side of her car at full speed. The other motorists saved her life, certainly. They directed traffic around the wreckage of her car, which had been pushed into oncoming traffic at a blind turn in the road. The paramedics cut MG out and she was brought to the trauma center of the hospital in the town in which she lives. She has already had several surgeries to stop internal hemorrhaging and is in an induced coma to give her body time to heal for the other lifesaving surgeries that need to happen quickly.

 Once again, my family learns that life can change in an instant. MG is the classiest of ladies: fun, irreverent, incredibly engaged in her family and faith, beautiful and the survivor of challenges in life that would've broken a less amazing woman. She used to come to Flanneryfests with her awesome husband and beautiful, kind and really fun children and was such a glamorous figure to me as a teenager and young woman, and definitely a woman to emulate. To hear that she was in this accident made me remember how short life is. Again. It also has made me reflect on human stupidity (as in the drunken driver), forgiveness, and community.

  I can't write more than that right now.