You look sad, I thought, of the long vining plant in my bathroom before giving it a large gulp of water. I’m really good, right?! Like, at noticing the subtle shift of the leaves from high-five Yippee to a limp hand shake. I can’t believe I once actually killed plants from my misunderstanding of their needs. Not even one plant could survive my unwatchful eye. Nowadays? At least 20 have a perfect bill of health due to my thumb turning green.
I’m riding shotgun, heading south on I-5, just passing Joint Base Lewis-McChord. The massive mansion-like military buildings are lit from the ground level with extra-large spotlights, reminding me of a haunted house. I haven’t told you about my misguided moment at 18 when I contemplated joining the military. After speaking to a recruiter at school, I signed up for a meeting. The idea was to be a buffed-out GI Jane, breaking records while army crawling under barbed wire, and spitting out mud as my muscles burned. However cool that image was, the reality of what that kind of commitment meant scared me. So I did a no-show and received a very angry, guilting message from the recruiter, which was a small price to pay to get out.
In the background, the Kraken plays on the radio, Evelyn is watching the GPS and updating us every minute
An hour and thirty-seven minutes to go, plenty of time for Dave and me to talk about our upcoming moving plans, his hernia surgery, and money stuff. The latest extra cost for the house is a transformer that our builder told Dave he’d never heard of before. How the heck much is a transformer anyway? Not knowing makes me feel anxious.
What does this feeling need, I ask myself? The unexpected transformer, the likelihood of thousands of dollars, and our only answer can be yes. I hate feeling powerless. We’re now talking about other sources of power: hydro, wind, and solar. Will that likely be a reality? No, but still to feel a bit more secure in this process – that’s what I need – to know there are other options than just Georgia Power. Plus, in my googling to find information about them, in October of 2023 they lost a 413 million dollar lawsuit.
I’m not against a little wind farm. Oh yeah! My major project for a college course was on wind farm technology, dispelling myths about all the birds they kill and sharing the benefits of their clean and sustainable energy.
So, I’m off to research off-grid options. Perhaps candlelight in our brand-new home will be the answer.
Come back tomorrow for the best calendar Dad Joke to date.
Love, Jaclynn
Going On 40 