Brother-sister road trip

I miss the blog! But life is one big cram session right now. Jason picked me up on Monday to drive up to Oregon and meet the Livingston side of our family. I think I already mentioned that my Grandma passed and we were all meeting to go up and help organize the property.

Jason and I have driven long distance together once. From San Francisco to San Diego. It must've been about ten years ago and lets just say it didn't go so well. It seemed like we had nothing in common and were on opposing sides of conversations for at least five hours of the trip. We hardly got a long while we were growing up, and during my early twenties it only seemed to get worse. Then Sand in My Bra came out. I blogged about my cross-country book tour and Jason followed along. He got to know me through the blog, and the past five years have been a completely different relationship to the one we knew when we were younger. The night before we left, I was still wondered if we could hack a 12+ hour trip in the car together but John assured me we got a long now and it wouldn't be a repeat of the 90s.

What Jason didn't know, was that I snore. Apparently badly. After the first night, Jason said,  "I woke up in the middle of the night and said Is this really happening?" I started laughing and he  kept going, "I had pillows over my ears and everything!"

The car part of the trip did go well. We do have a lot more in common now and found ourselves both happily singing to Sam Cooke and Desmond Decker. At one point, we even said that same thing at the same time, then looked at each other with a quizzical look. Weird! When we made it to  Shasta and  Jason saw the mountains he told me about his inner argument  about whether he's more relaxed in the country or at the beach.  I was  thrilled and amazed. We had never talked about inner arguments before, and the way he was thinking had a hint of possibility and positivity to it. It slapped me into place because my thoughts had turned to more of an inner sadness rather than an argument. It's sometimes hard to think that I won't get to live in the Pacific Northwest. It only bothers me when I'm in it, but I do get a feeling of panic by limitations. Still, it passed and I eventually came over to the positive side.

This part of the country is SO beautiful. Spending time with the family is as wonderful as I knew it would be. I wish I could share these kinds of moments with John, but I know he wouldn't be comfortable in this situation, even if he had the time. But family will be for another post. I've got to hit the La Quinta Inn free continental breakfast and get on with my work.

CURRENT: Grants PASS, OR
NEXT: Pasadena, CA  (Saturday)

Comments

[susan]

I shoulda told Jason to pack the breath right strips and the earplugs. Sorry Jason! But she isn't always that way. musta been all that fresh air.