Away

August 2024 was one of the hardest months of my entire life.

The first part was okay. There was a lot of complicated life stuff happening, but mostly I was taking care of Olive, who was absolutely acing her post colic surgery recovery.

Then my mom fell, and all hell broke loose. I bought a one way ticket to California and stayed there for the rest of the month.

It was really hard.

This August has been better, but still, it's been a long, hot, hard month filled with a lot of complicated life stuff and so many car problems.

I was chatting with Anne Field one day, and she invited me to come spend some time with her in Massachusetts. For a hot minute, it seemed do-able, but ultimately, we weren't able to work out the logistics. I was really disappointed. Right up until that moment, I hadn't realized how much I needed to get away.

A few days later, I related this story to my friend, Carol. She said, "I'm going to be in Washington DC next week and New York City the week after. Why don't you fly out and join me at one of those places."

"Sounds good to me," I said, but once again the logistics weren't in my favor.

Before she went re-enlisted in the Air Force, Carol worked for Frontier. She has benefits with a couple different airlines and can sometimes find deals that I can not.

"Give me some time to work on this," she said. "You really need to get away. I'm going to make something happen."

Sure enough, a couple days later I got a call from Carol. "Check your email," she told me. "I've made you a reservation. You have two days to pay for it."

"Where am I going?" I asked.

"Well," she said. "You're flying into New Orleans."

I laughed. "I'm going to Mississippi, aren't I?"

And then we both laughed together.