Who needs to travel the world when you could travel to California? I probably dont need to share how much I love our home state, because if you know me you already hear it enough. My heart quickens when I realize I get to visit that land of my forefathers again in less than a week! It quickens a little more when it hits home that Ill be trekking all alone this time, far from the only Directionally Intelligent one in our marriage. One time I got lost in a mall for two hours because I couldnt find an exit. When I finally found the glorious portal to my known universe (the parking lot, another maze), it was nowhere near where I had entered that fun-house hall of mirrors to begin with, and had to walk for fifteen minutes around the perimeter of the building until I finally began to recognize the shrubbery. Another time I was in my car going to pick Jon up after work. That story is too long and complicated to even share coherently (ask me sometime), but suffice it to say that what should have been a fifteen minute gallop down the road turned out to be a tear-inducing escapade of missed exits, and terrifying traffic-stopping U-turns.
So flying across the world should be no sweat! Whats that? My hands are trembling just writing this entry? You bet they are, Im freaking out. It doesnt help that we just saw the movie called "The Grey", in which there is an extremely realistic and honestly frightening depiction of a plane crash over some pretty gnarly snow-capped peaks. Guess Ill remember to pack my thermos with many small knives, just in case we have to fight off some giant, man-eating wolves when we crash.
Good thing I watch a lot of Bear Grylls! In fact, probably enough to where Im fairly confidant (while sitting on my cushy couch drinking my chocolatey coffee) that in a wilderness sans giant man-eating wolves, I would survive long enough for Bear's camera crew to find me. And dont give me stats about more people dying in car crashes than in plane crashes. Do the guys who write those stats even take into account people like me who are in planes more often than in cars? My personal chances of being in a plane accident versus a car accident must be exponentially higher than the median.
Im really not actually worried though. I have a fair amount of time between layovers, so heres to making each connection in time! There are four planes, three layovers, and a bag to catch at the end of it all. But I have a couple good books by my favorite proven authors (Stephen King & Anne Rice), and plan to buy lots of nice coffee to stay awake, since it will be midnight when I reach my final destination (no relevance to the movie called the same).
See you soon, my lovely California!
