When I was fourteen my mother and I went on a family vacation.We drove from Illinois to Georgia in a car that was a stick shift and prayed that the car would at least make it there. Once we finally made it to Georgia and spent a week visiting with friends and reminiscing over the good old times we loaded a lifetime of stuff into the back of a U-haul to bring it back with us to Illinois. (clunker car tied to the back.)

I was too young to drive so my mother drove and I entertained. It was getting late and she was tired so we decided to find a hotel. Note: We didn’t know where we were or what we were close to. We drove around reading billboards checking hotel rates and pulled off at an exit. This was not a hotel. This was a motel. Right behind your motel room door was the warm Tennessee night. And there we were two girls by ourselves in God know where.

Because we were driving a U-haul we had to choose our hotel carefully. We needed a hotel with ample parking to park our truck for the night. Luckily behind this motel that we would be spending the night in was an entertainment establishment called “Boobies Bungalo.” It was exactly what you think it was. And because we were in Tennessee we couldn’t cross the patch of grass between the establishment and our hotel. (in fear of snakes) So we walked along the road. At night.

In the morning we enjoyed their “complimentary breakfast” of twinkies and coffee and ate it at the table in our room. The table thats top was detached from it so when you placed your arm down on the surface it toppled off the base. And we drove back home to Illinois.

I don’t look around enough at where I am and where I have been and where I am going. I shuffle from plane to hotel to our house with a yard and garage and back again without so much as blinking. But sometimes it hits me hard. Who am I to have so much?

And the truth is? It happended so fast that I didn’t even see it coming.