As I have confessed to many friends and family, eating well on our summer road trip was very difficult. If we weren't cooking ourselves (camping, or on the side of the road, or occasionally at a highway rest stop), there was little chance of avoiding a McDonalds or Subway. Subways showed up in the oddest of places. There would be no house for hundreds of miles and then a Subway. Go figure.
The McDonalds are different. They were just dominant. They are everywhere. You know this, too, it's not new information... But somehow we've become immune to them like violence in television. They are so present in our landscape that we don't really notice their omnipresence until you try to find somewhere else to eat while going across the country and back.
I just saw this map today, and it amused me. It's a visual of what Tom and I experienced this summer. It turns out the farthest point you can possibly be from a McD in the USA is 107 miles. When you consider how large our country is, that is quite astonishing.
Speaking of lunch, Adeline and I had lunch on the back stairs today. She'd fallen asleep early in the day which is unusual and woke up happy. She "sorted" through all of her clothes which entailed throwing them all on the floor and then trying on all of the "pretty" socks, followed by all of her shoes. Each pair of shoes became a certain characters. I had lunch with the pink power ranger's silver race car shoes.
She talked a mile a minute and then began singing "Go go Power Rangers!" When I sang it inaccurately, she told me, "Mommy. You can try to sing it again with me. Sing it again." She sang it with me to help me."That's good!" I felt happy when she encouraged me! Go me!
The kids are really picking up on the tension. I want to tell them, but we've been holding out for a meeting with a counselor for advice. Cole is having accidents at school every day and the teachers have really stressed us out about it.
Every day the surgery gets closer. I am not ready.
I spent a few minutes hanging the clothes on the line in the sun with Adeline puttering about at my feet. I spent an hour during her nap, writing. We shared some purple yoghurt in the back yard. And when I get grumpy and tense, as I did tonight, I need to draw from those moments.
You will be ready, Coley, your blog indicates to me anyway you are focused on what is truly living love and that is the best preparation anyone could hope to have. Rest in the love all around you and trust in that great Power of Love. Aunt Boonie
Posted by: Aunt Boonie | September 26, 2009 at 02:16 PM