The final leg of my east coast trip took me from a delightful two days with my ex-sister-in-law and her husband, where I stayed with them at their lake house, took a ride on a pontoon boat (I'm always a sucker for a harbor cruise!), to the noise and chaos and drama of my aging parents. I walk in the door of my parents' house to be handed an electric bill and asked "what do you make of this?" Luckily I was able to get away once by myself to the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, Virginia. The scenery was lovely and the people working there so friendly. I asked one of the staff, what are the red and black beetles on the milkweed? "Oh, we call 'em 'milkweed beetles.'" I asked if they bite (often bugs with red on them do). He looked at my sweater, "Only if you're wearing black. And if you're from Oregon!" Oh, those wacky Virginians!
Home now, where we've had a lot of rain, a lot of sunshine, a lot of serenity, a lot of cat-ness, and where life goes on, relatively drama-free.
The first 18 years of one's life kind of sets the stage, doesn't it? It's what we create after age 18 that becomes the challenge. Every freakin' day . . . ©Carol Leigh
