Friday, August 28, 2009

As time goes by...



My son turned ten years old today.  Ten years.  Old.  Gosh.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Monday, August 24, 2009

Never forget



We were driving from North Carolina to Missouri and Kelli really wanted to stop by Graceland on the way.  We stopped in Atlanta first, to visit Rachel May and family, and then headed on.  We didn't make it all the way, and stopped, randomly, in Tupelo, Mississippi.  Lo and behold, it turned out to be the birthplace of Elvis!  Kelli said, in her best Midwestern accent, "God made you stop here - he led you here."

We stopped by.  It's surprisingly unassuming and pleasant (and inspirational - see photo).  It's a little house:


The grounds are actually rather tasteful.  We were greeted by a very old and kind volunteer who shook and held my hand for about two minutes while he was talking to me about the difference in snowfall between Tupelo and Boston.  He was so nice, but there was something strange.

I looked closely at him, and saw that there was a small spider web spun between the brim of his hat and his glasses.  I kid you not.  God knows how long he had been there.  I kept thinking of one of the "old caretakers" in a Scooby Doo episode.  I kept expecting him to rip his mask off to reveal a terrifying skull face or something.  It was sooooo weird.  I wish I had a picture to prove it, but Kelli had the camera and didn't see it, and I could hardly bring it up.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Things a person oughta should do.


One of the great things about this vacation so far has been doing nothing. For the first time in 5 years, I have the freedom to just be.

When we were up in Canada, I sat in a lawn chair and watched the big, beautiful clouds march by - for an hour. It was awesome.

Today, it was rainy in Carthage, Missouri. I woke up early, around 7, with Dashiell, and went downstairs with him and puttered around for a while. Then, around 9, I went back upstairs and went back to sleep for an hour and a half. But that's not the cool part. Later in the day, around 3, I went back upstairs to read, and it started to pour, so I put my book down, and just listened to the beating rain. Pretty soon I was asleep again, dreaming about staging Midsummer on this ruined staircase that ran about a half a mile up a huge hill.

I cannot remember the number of times I have said, over the last 5 years, "this is one of those days where you should be home dozing in bed with a good book" - today, I finally did it.

I think we spend way too much time in this country doing stuff, and not nearly enough just being there with the sounds and smells of the world.


I'm back but I'm not

Many travels. Many things to think about. I'm still in Missouri, still "on the road", but I'm ready to the land of posting.