You Be (Road)Trippin'

I just returned home from a really great weekend reunion with Spain friends in...drumroll please...the great state of...Kentucky! Yes, Kentucky. I've only ever driven through it, but now after spending a solid two days with some of its finest residents, I can now say that it is a wonderful place. I'll be posting who I actually got to see while I was there later on this week, but first I want to talk about the process of getting there. That's right, the road trip. I drove the six hours each way on my own, and I must say I enjoyed it quite a bit. The trip went straight south all the way through the great state of Indiana, through Louisville as I entered Kentucky, and then on to my destination in Lexington. This is a special part of the country we call home, let me tell you. Here's a few distinctive features of a great road trip to Kentucky.

First, I started the day on a breakfast date with my mom. Granted, not all road trips can begin this way, but I highly recommend it. She coincidentally was meeting her sisters in the city for lunch, so she came a few hours earlier to see me first. It was wonderful. We ate at a place called Sweet Maple Cafe in University Village (the neighborhood just north of mine) and it was deeeeelish.

The next key to a great road trip is the food. Every road trip needs road trip candy. I had my quintessential nerds and gum (I'm a chain chewer). Plus, you GOTS to make a stop at an unhealthy restaurant. This time, I chose Culver's. Culver's, Chik Fil-A, and Sonic round out my trifecta of best road-trip-lunch-stops, and this one was just south of Indianapolis. Not only was it a great excuse for consuming lots of barbeque sauce, it was a great opportunity to people watch. I have to say that I saw one pervading theme: poorly fitting denim. It was everywhere. People of Indiana, get yourselves to a GAP store IMMEDIATELY.

Finally, the best part of a road trip is, of course, the radio. This drive had lots of great ads for things that people in Indiana are interested in, like fishing boats and GED completion courses. One thing I loved about this particular drive through the Midwest was that just about every other station I scanned to was a country music station. This is something that brings me back to my roots as a hick Wisconsinite as well as summers in Indiana visiting Karley and her friends. There was a lot of Blake, a lot of George, and a lot of Tim. Not to mention the classic rock stations that I don't have in Chicago. It was nice to hear Tom Petty again. When I wasn't listening to some good homestyle music, I perused the pop stations. I think I heard The Lumineers' Ho! Hey! more times than I can express. (You all need to chill on that song. It's great, but give it a rest.) After that, I did what every roadtripper does: indulge in the guilty pleasure music. You know what that means. Justin Bieber. Ha! Oh yikes. I'm a little ashamed to admit that instead of switching the station when the song below came on the radio, I turned the volume up just slightly. It couldn't be helped.

You know you all love it too.

And now you have all the ingredients for a great trip to Kentucky. Plan your weekend soon!

Refunding

One time on Seinfeld they referred to barfing as "refunding." I thought that was a nice way to put it.

Here's one aspect of teaching that I never thought would come naturally to me, but I'm dealing with it more maturely than I expected.

I don't know what it is with all you 7 and 8-year-olds, but you guys barf a lot. 

Today, my kid D just let it fly during Writing Workshop all over himself, his chair, and the floor and stared at me like I was his mom or something. Like I was his person! Like I had to be the one to take action!

In the past, I might have run away screaming or more likely just vomited myself out of pure grossed-outedness. But somehow God has decided to develop the nurturing gene that I somehow have way deep down in my soul and gave me the strength to go over there, clean him up, and help him to the garbage can. It's happened three times this week in my classroom and I've seen it 3 times in the halls/recess areas in the past two days.

I think the reason for my unexpected compassion in these gross situations is that I know from experience that the second I throw up my immediate thought is, "WHERE IS MY MOTHER?!" as if she is going to come in and clean me up and make me toast while I watch The Price is Right on the couch. So I can understand the tendency to look around the room as a second grader when you refund your lunch and to immediately look for the closest thing that looks like your mom. I mean, I look nothing like my kids' moms, but I am older than them and I am a female. Close enough. 

Props to my mom for putting up with my crybaby self whenever I barf. Heck, props to ALL THE MOMS. One day, if I join your ranks, I'll be thankful for D who saw me as qualified to help his poor self out.

Onward and upward. Hopefully my naming today Throw-up Thursday isn't prophetic for the rest of the year. 

The Rents

So I like my parents.

The amazing sunset over my backyard on Saturday.

I'm getting to be at that stage. I've always loved my parents. Do not get me wrong. I consider myself one of the luckiest people alive with parents like mine. There are a lot of humans in this world who have sub-par parents and mine are definitely better than par. Like way better. They are so intelligent, creative, funny, friendly, and wise. While I've always loved them, I didn't always like them. I had those stupid times where I felt like they were too strict, too uptight, and too controlling, especially in high school. But somehow in the past few years I got to the point where I not only love them, but I like them. I really do. I'll be writing more about them in the future I'm sure. Lately I just have been feeling like I have cool parents.

Dad texting me from his tree stand while he was
deer hunting. Notice how he signs his name at the
end of every text message he sends me. 

I was home for about 36 hours this weekend. I had the opportunity to get my oil changed at home with our trusted go-to mechanics, which is good, because I found out that my car had virtually no oil in it. That clicking sound that was going on in my car for the last two weeks? Yeah, that was the engine telling me that some bad stuff could seriously go down at any moment. Thankfully I made it home safely and got Remy all fixed up and ready for this winter. Other than that, I spent my time at home, making food, shopping with my mom, and going out to eat with my parents on Saturday night. Back in the day three years ago I'd burst through the door, drop my stuff on the ground, and head out with my friends. It's true that I just don't have as many friends at home anymore, but I think it's also that I really miss my mom and dad these days. I miss home and the safety, feeling of belonging, and simple Wisconsin goodness that they symbolize to me.

My mom officially has more of a social
life than I do. Good work Kathy. 

I often write in this nostalgic blurriness every time I return after a quick trip home, but that's just the great feeling I get from sleeping in and having a simple day back in Cedar Grove. Beautiful trees, open land, no neighbors, the smell of farm, fresh air, and perfect starry nights. I really love Chicago, but getting home for a bit is so so sweet. It's sweet because of all that good stuff about rural Wisconsin in the fall, but it's mainly because of the two people who live there.

Mishmash

The elements of this post won't have much to do with each other besides the fact that they occurred in my presence in the last week. First things first, last weekend was the birthday of two of my favorite people in the whole world! Karley and Liz, my cousins, both turned 22. Karyn, Karley, and I made the trek to NW Iowa for a visit to the Dordt College area to celebrate this huge worldwide event. Remy was a dream to drive the whole way. (Well, Karyn and Karley may not agree with me; the lack of cruise control is a feature I don't notice anymore. I just love that car so stinkin' much. I accept him as he is. And I also am overlooking a warning light episode that caused us to pull over and pop the hood like real live professionals.) On our way, there was a sign in the sky that it was going to be a good weekend. (Okay maybe it's not a sign but whatever. I liked it. And I had a fabulous weekend. So I'm saying it was a sign.)

The next video is going to knock your socks off. Last week Wednesday our Concert Choir at Trinity (of which I am a member...why they let me in, I'm not sure) got to join in with three other choirs for one amazing concert. Rehoboth, a high school from an Indian reservation in New Mexico, Elim, a school for disabled students, and Roseland, a Chicago Christian school, all came to our chapel for a combined performance. It was SO SWEET. I honestly think that I got a taste of what heaven is going to look and sound like from that night. Here's a video of the Roseland kids singing their hearts out. 

In addition to road trips and concerts, my mother and I discussed how I spend my money. Oops. To clarify, I did in fact work last summer to make more than what warrants a $36 tax return, I just made it working for the nannying black market. If I tell you any more, I'd have to kill you.

And, to top it all off, an extremely important event happened last week. I WORE LIPSTICK. I know, I know. There were the naysayers. There were those who thought it couldn't be done. There were even those who expressed skepticism (and rightly so) that I possessed the grace and coordination to maintain lipstick on my lips without smearing it all over my face like some sort of sad Heath-Ledger-as-the-Joker impersonation. But, lo and behold, I accomplished this historical task. My quest to turn into Zooey Deschanel is starting to look attainable. Write it down folks, remember where you are right now...this is the most significant piece of news you'll receive in a long time.

Not showing teeth because I'm not confident that
there isn't lipstick on those too.