[stylist] Joy Ride-a quck look at my road trip

Tue Jun 29 01:54:58 UTC 2010

Thank you Lori...my granddaughter told me when I read it to her  that I 
only had to look at her once  ... not quite but I'll let her think  it for 
awhile  

In a message dated 6/28/2010 8:49:54 P.M. Central Daylight Time,  
loristay at aol.com writes:

Nicely  done, Myrna.
Lori
On Jun 28, 2010, at 5:11:08 PM, KajunCutie926 at aol.com  wrote:

From:   KajunCutie926 at aol.com
Subject:     [stylist] Joy Ride-a quck look at my road trip
Date:   June 28,  2010 5:11:08 PM EDT
To: stylist at nfbnet.org

I think this is my first  poet here so I do hope I'm doing it correctly... 
I'm still operating  on fumes alone I think....and yep I didn't do it right 
the first  time.. so here goes again...

Since you all gave me the idea to put this  to paper last night I decided 
to just jot down some quick thoughts...  it's meant for fun mostly and will 
likely be one of those things that  I keep for my enjoyment and memory 
only... I do not write much else  but poetry so this is a stretch and a 
very rough 
and rusty one at  that..
Myrna

Joy Ride

It began on a Monday. "Of course, it  would be a Monday," I mumbled as I 
crawled into the backseat of a  very comfortable car just after midnight, 
knowing that 'comfortable'  was really relative to the length of the ride. 
After about an hour of  the expected twelve hour trip I understood the 
truth of 
this  knowledge and actually considered kicking myself a good swift one  in 
the posterior for even considering the journey... but realized  immediately 
that not only was there not enough room for the maneuver,  I likely would 
not have been able to move either knee to accomplish  it anyway. They were 
already suffering from 'bent knee'  syndrome. 

My grandchildren, ages thirteen and eight, shared my  cocoon of torture but 
were snoozing blissfully which was a good thing  I suppose. I found myself 
looking forward to our first scheduled pit  stop with the enthusiasm I once 
thought was only warranted for those  very special occasions... and quickly 
moved this moment to the top of  that special list.

I looked over at the snoozers and prayed their nap  would be lengthy and 
attempted to find my own little cranny in the  cocoon. I popped on my 
earphones hoping my chosen audio book would  help to temper my discomfort 
and allow 
time to pass more quickly. In  a matter of minutes I again thought of that 
posterior kick upon  realizing that I had picked the most boring book in my 
collection.  Another truth of life revealed... boredom does not lend itself 
to  instant snooze as you might believe. Instead I found myself  drumming 
my fingers on a knee that was already in pain. Another  truth... drumming 
fingers does not equal therapeutic  massage.

Oh, the joys of travel!

Pit stop!!! Three hours down  and nine more to go! Horrors! Would the 
snoozers be awakened? Well,  of course, they would be! Good thing, I had to 
admit. A wet cocoon  would not be on my wish list of good things. 

On our way again...  and the snoozers do go back to snoozing. I lifted my 
eyes skyward and  mouthed a heartfelt 'thank you' to any divine entity 
responsible.  Telling myself I must get some sleep because daylight will 
come 
and  the snoozers will awaken, I settled back to enjoy my boring choice  of 
reading material and smiled at my silent grumpiness. I was  actually quite 
proud of myself. Only nine hours to go. Oh  joy....

Another pit stop!! Again I murmured a 'thank you' to anyone who  might be 
listening but for a different reason and heard my son-in-law  chuckle, 
asking if I had enjoyed my nap. Whoa... I really had napped!  Daylight had 
arrived and the snoozers had awakened.... and now only  six hours to go!

The journey continued and another truth was revealed.  I never once chided 
my daughter or son-in-law for their apparent  bending of speed limit rules. 
The thought did cross my mind but my  knee threatened to make it possible 
for that posterior attention I  contemplated earlier to become a reality. 
Enough motivation to zip my  lip and leave the driving to the 'experts'. I 
nearly choked on that  thought but my knee spoke up again and...yes, I 
listened.

I  really was looking forward to this trip and I told myself that as  the 
miles crawled by in endless monotony. I was going to be visiting  family 
living in the foothills of the Ozarks while the experts and  snoozers were 
going 
on to enjoy a theme park and have their first fun  vacation in a couple of 
years. So it was all good... except, of  course, for the road trip and two 
very talkative knees. After several  more pit stops and even a brief doze 
or two we arrived! After a short  visit filled with many hugs and much 
laughter, my fellow travelers  continued on to their final pit stop and I 
settled 
in for a few days  of quiet and relaxation. I think I even heard a sigh of 
relief escape  from knees in dire need of space and a long soak in a tub.

The next few  days were spent simply enjoying... I love my bayou home but I 
must  admit that the mountains draw me with their own charm. The scent  of 
air filled with its unique blend of nature's best and worst, the  feel of a 
mountain morning, cool breeze on skin, the music of a  feathered concerto, 
welcoming in off-key renditions of familiar  songs, the echo of life that 
comes from the earth and sky, and the  peace that settles upon me at 
sunset...all have made my visits here  special memories. No doubt I would 
add a few 
more and I  did.

Time does not stand still, however, and the day came when we must  journey 
home. It was mid-morning and after tearful goodbyes and more  of those 
family hugs, I again crawled into that comfortable car, the  cocoon of 
torture....twelve hours and counting I thought. Yes, the  joys of 
travel.... The 
knees only groaned!

I soon learned that  these twelve hours would be spent a bit differently 
than those spent  on the first round. The snoozers would not be snoozing 
and 
the pit  stops would likely be more frequent. I also learned a few more  of 
life's truths and some gave me much pleasure in the discovery. I  learned 
that I still possessed the ability to give children that  'look'. It is 
tempered a bit with grandmothers' gray but the effect  is still the same. I 
learned that patience is indeed a virtue. I did  already know this but a 
refresher course is never a bad thing, is it?  I also learned that though 
knees 
can forgive, they do not forget and  likely I will be reminded of my road 
trip for some time to come. I do  not fear the swift kick though because 
even 
they realize the attempt  would be futile really. Finally, I learned that 
growing older means  accepting life as it comes, both good and bad, but 
always embracing  the living and breathing of every moment. Again, 
something I 
knew but  the reminder is always nice. 

Oh, the joys of travel... and the  joy of coming  home!

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