Nearly Impossible Accomplishment

Kenosha, Wisconsin

Just a short note today. My daughter is home for the holidays from her university studies. She hitched a ride from school to Chicago with her "BFF," Jenna. So I drove down from where I now live to pick up Anne in southern Wisconsin (courtesy of Jenna's mom, who drove up to meet me in Kenosha). That is a few hours' drive for me, so I packed the dog into my car and drove to my parents' house for a night.

*Bonus* My brother changed my reverse light for me while I was nearby -- in the heated garage of his new house. And with a dedicated waterline in his garage for a hose, he also gave my car a quick hand wash to get the road salt off of it! Sweet deal. Yay for brothers with kickin' garages!

Back to my story. What I described above is the normal routine for getting Anne for the holidays. I also drive her to and from school in the Fall and Spring, respectively. A once home-based travel agent, this is all the traveling I can afford to do, these days -- except for Thanksgiving, of course. I go to my parents' house for Thanksgiving, too. They feed me turkey (or ham) and I don't have to deal with the leftovers. It is a good thing for everyone.

Oh! Last year, I also drove down to my folks' place when my water pipes froze. Nothing was keeping me in my house (no children at school, husband at work or job of my own) and I didn't want to wait three days for a plumber to come out to unfreeze my water supply. So I decided to camp at Mom and Dad's until the weather warmed up a bit. I had to come back home much earlier than expected because of the fiasco with the handiman (another story entirely), but I did go away from my house for a week or so -- so I guess that counts as "travel."

Why am I going on about this? My neighbor (to whom I hand my house key when I leave town) asked me yesterday how I "have the money to do so much traveling." Money? Me? Travel? What?? I was momentarily dumbstruck. Ask anyone. Rendering me speechless, even for a moment, is quite an accomplishment. Yet the neighbor achieved it without even trying.

Congratulations to the neighbor for momentarily accomplishing the nearly impossible.