I’ve taken this house as far as it’ll let me; Dave and Evelyn will be home soon. I’ve been on my own with them on a fourteen-hour drive to Kalamazoo, Michigan, and fourteen hours back three nights away. I’ve napped, done loads and loads of laundry, broken down boxes, climbed up into the attic to store sentimental items, and cooked up a mean open-face bagel with cream cheese, an egg cooked in bacon fat, bacon, and melted gouda on top.
I meant to plate it and sit and savor it at the island, but I was on a FaceTime call with Paula, and while taking her along for the ride making it, I mowed it down too quickly to have time to sit.
Speaking of mowing, well past dark and a little tipsy, I yanked the pull cord on Maria’s mower. With it running, I stumbled across the pasture over thick brush and crevices until I reached my house. What’s the point of drinking two cosmopolitans if you’re not going to seize the opportunity for some nighttime landscaping?
After the alcohol consumption ceased, I gulped down a gallon of water to ensure today was a smooth-sailing, relatively hangover-free kind of day.
And it was.
I’m on the back porch, listening to VNV Nation while soaking in the night’s humidity with my new Shokz earbuds. This song, “Illusion,” is beautiful—it’s about asking someone to stay, even though they’re hurting because the world is just an illusion trying to change us.
Today, I read a book my mom gave me when I was ten. It’s called To My Daughter, with Love, on the Important Things in Life. On a page, she wrote, “This is my favorite. Love, Mama. ” As I read it, I thought of Evelyn and of my mom thinking of me. It’s surreal how unique and special our lives are yet also how universal and the same.
I’m back to work tomorrow, but not until 3 p.m., a whole day to be with Dave and Evelyn. And if we had the golf cart we’re soon buying, we’d be taking it for a spin. Why a golf cart, you ask? Well, it turns out that in this small town, you can pay $25 to license it and ride it around on the city streets. After taking a family member’s buggy for a spin yesterday and feeling the breeze whip through my hair at the loveliest low speed, I knew it was the only way to travel from here on out. My goal is to get it before my parents arrive in a month so we can see the area in style.
Lots and lots of changes, and I’m taking them in stride. One day to the next.
See you tomorrow. Love, Jaclynn
Going On 40 