Summer Road Trips

This summer I did not go anywhere. Usually this is not the case. After the school year ends, there is this need to just hop in the car and take off for a while. I play tunes on the radio or CD or listen to books-on-tape. I read by the pool or in my room, and I watch free HBO for a week or two before bed. I visit friends in other states, in-laws, or fellow genealogists and researchers. I see tourist places and stop at mom-and-pop cafes for good food. Some trips Caveman will join me or a friend, but usually I go alone.


There was the time, however, that I offered to take my dad with me. He was interested in everything I had uncovered about the family and wanted to see old family homesteads. What can you say to that? No, Dad! I'd rather poke hot needles in my eyes than take you with me for two weeks trapped in a car!

"Sure! It'll be fun!"

So we're in Nebraska (too far for either of us to walk home, but close enough to send someone packing with a cheap Greyhound ticket) when Dad says, "Hey, do you mind if I play one of my tapes?"

"Of course not. Go right ahead." Whereupon Dad pulls out Slim Whitman's Greatest Hits on the Pan Pipe.



Where are the needles???



There is the Dad humor added from time to time just to make things fun. "Hey, Liz, see that cemetery to your right?"

"Yeah."

"Guess how many people are buried there?"

?

"All of them!"



Guess what? He survived and is not buried among them.

A Very Different Birthday

Yesterday, my teammates threw an intimate gathering to celebrate my birthday. It was very pleasant to get together, catch-up, and have a good laugh. We began this year throwing each other small theme birthdays during our lunch hours. I won't get into all the details but will summarize as such:

• party 1 - all of us with eye patches and birthday boy in a pirate hat
• party 2 - all of us with leis and birthday girl in a coconut bra
• party 3 - all with Tinkerbell tiaras and a game of Pixie Bingo
• party 4 - all with cans of silly string and me with a Spiderman action figure to stick in my car windows.

I am blessed with a wonderful team that fits well. That doesn't happen often. We all love a good laugh, but can support each other.

Caveman came. At first I thought he was going to be his usual quiet, retiring self. I was pleasantly surprised that after awhile he loosened up and infused the group with his own style of humor. He is great with puns, and was able to throw out a few. He also got a chance to see some of the humor that my friends have. He enjoyed Laurie's impression of a dog barking underwater. That and a can of silly string loosened him up.

After the party Caveman, Laurie, Donna, and myself went to see a local tarot card reader who happened to have the same unusual last name as myself. She certainly had the same intensity that all of my family seems to have. That intensity can, of course, be used for good or evil.

Of course, I had to show familial support by paying for a tarot reading. Some of the reading was a direct hit (need more "real sleep" because I over-analyze everything). Some of the reading was a bit general (a worthwhile project will be coming up). Hey, I'm the project queen. Everything is a project to be done in my mind. However, I'm supposed to let go of some of that over-thinking.

One thing was interesting. The tarot card was the picture of a young child looking through some gates as if longing to go in. It represented either a) quit being an elitist and go in; or b) except that you want to do your own thing. In the past I had learned that if you want something done, do it yourself. Now that I have a wonderful support group at work and in my personal life, I realize that I do not have to do it all. They are wonderful group with so much from which I can learn and grow.

The whole day was absolutely wonderful from beginning to end.