| How I Spent My Summer Vacation |
[Jul. 17th, 2006|09:24 pm] |
I love driving. I had forgotten how much I enjoy road trips because I've been without a travel-worthy vehicle since I had to give up the Ram. It is just such a great chance to clear my head, think a little, relax, and just enjoy some time. Some of my best memories from the last 12 years include just hopping in a vehicle and driving somewhere. I recall a friend named Wes that lived about four hours south of where we were living at the time, and how I'd volunteer to drive down and pick him up to party with us for the weekend, then drive him back home, just to have some solid driving hours. Or a group of us would just take off for the weekend to Newport News, Atlanta, Augusta, Myrtle Beach, DC, or any other random place.
Most of the time, the location we chose was not even all that interesting. We once drove about 9 hours down to Augusta, GA, found it not to be as exciting as we'd remembered, so we drove 9 hours back. The destination was completely unimportant, it was the trip. Some of the trips were group bonding experiences, others were just a nice chance for me to unwind and be by myself, but sojourns of both sorts were equally important to me.
This weekend was the weekend of driving, and it was very, very nice. It started with a leisurely trek through northern Ohio to meet with my parents in Conneaut. There are a million places I'd rather spend 240 miles of my time, one way, than in the construction infested, poor driver infused wasteland that is northern Ohio, but the weather held out and it was a great trip. I met up with my parents, got caught up with what the kids have been up to for the past two weeks, and started my journey 300 miles back to the west, to pick up Ger in Lansing. The next four and a half hours were a chance for the kids and I to catch up, talk some, enjoy some time together; along with singing along with some music and listening to completely inappropriate stand-up comedy. Once we swooped up Geralyn, it was time for the 90 mile run back home, during which we plotted out what we were going to do with our day and the kids got a chance to brag about their new swimming eliteness and amusement park fun.
Sunday night was time for the 180 mile trip out to Geralyn's place to drop her off at home and meet her parents. Ger is so much fun on a road trip. To many exes were car sleepers (oh how I HATE that) or conversational mimes (no, don't bother having a conversation, we can just sit silently for hours in a closed space), it's nice to have a fun partner who enjoys good music AND can converse in an entertaining and fun manner.
After a tour of the farm (more on that in a minute), the 180 mile trip home commenced. In all, somewhere in the vicinity of 1000 miles driven over the course of 48 hours, and all of it a great deal of fun. I can't wait for my next road trip excuse.
* * * * * *
In more important news, I met my girlfriend's mom this weekend. I've known that this meeting was going to happen for the better part of a week at this point, and as the day approached, I found myself becoming more and more nervous. Why? I'm not exactly what a parent dreams of his or her daughter bringing home. I mean, I just don't look good on paper at the moment. If my 20 year old daughter brought home a 30 year old, divorced, father of two, who is currently unemployed/going to school full time, and is utterly poor, and more importantly not a Christian; I would end everybody involved's life. As a result, to say I was sweating bullets would be the understatement of the year.
The meeting itself went well, and she took to the kids very well. We did a tour of the farm, which was very cool, and the kids were very impressed by the variety of animals that can be found all over the place. I, on the other hand, was trying not to say something wrong or in some way make a poor impression. I left feeling like, although I didn't make a BAD impression, I didn't feel like I made a GOOD impression either. It was depressing to me, because I feel like I was starting at about a negative 10, and I was hoping for a nice, solid first impression to at least get me to a 0, so I have some room to build a positive opinion. I left not feeling like that had happened.
Imagine my surprise, then, when Ger called and said that her mom, quote, likes me.
I'd like to take a moment to say WOO FRIGGIN HOO!
That sound you hear? That's a sigh of relief. What a great weekend. |
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
bouncy
cheerful
giddy
tired
contemplative
busy
relieved