tedwords

“Aging is not ‘lost youth’ but a new stage of opportunity and strength.” Betty Friedan

For the next two days, I took the wheel on our journey homeward. From Missouri to Indianapolis, that first day, I drove from noon to eight, and on the second day, from Indianapolis to Harrisburg, PA, I drove from 11 to ten.

I know, this shouldn't sound like a big deal, but after not having driven for four years as a result of the pandemic, it was kind of jarring. I found that the highway for the most part was relatively easy and I enjoyed it, especially because since I was driving, I had control over the music being played. This is not something I have had in years and frankly, I was taken aback when I realized it. What would I want to play, for God's sake? We actually started out with something Corb suggested--Ella Fitzgerald live in Chicago, but by the time we were heading to PA, I was able to torture him with five consecutive Supertramp albums in a row, something I had never gotten around to but always been interested in doing (and boy, did that last album really suck).

What I didn't like were the city roads; I found sudden turns to be a bit anxiety inducing. And what I discovered the second night, as the sun set and after we had dinner, was that the glasses I have are not good for driving at night. Things got really blurry, especially with the layer of dead bugs that now adorned the front windshield due to all the driving. It made the night drive through the Pennsylvania mountains feel almost like a slightly out of focus video game, with all the white dots on the ground and yellow lines on the sides of the road. And with all the construction and travel at 70 mph...finally, after an hour on the road, I pulled over at a rest stop, with 90 minutes to go before our next destination, and said to Corb, "okay, you'll have to do the rest."

I did feel like I lost the game in a way, which is ridiculous. I drove for seventeen hours and no bodies were harmed in the making! So what if I had a bit of night blindness? It was probably wise that I acknowledged it and asked Corb to take over, rather than refuse to swallow my pride and put ourselves in a dangerous situation, But hell's bells, at 58, it's awful to feel like I am getting older and have limitations.

I think that has been part of this week's journey, which it truly has been, in so many senses. The other aspect was taking care of Corb, as he took care of me after the HA, when we traveled to Greece. It's just what couples need to do for each other, and it was good to be able to take care of him the way that he took care of me.

For Corb's part, while his kidney stone appears to have passed (he still has minor pains on his side, but nothing close to what he had), he has been suffering from terrible dizziness and nausea since the incident. Our friend Nurse Linda think he might have gastritis, and he is going to check with his doctor when we return.

This is not to say that there haven't been some very nice times these past few days. We stayed in a lovely hotel in Indianapolis, the Hotel Broad Ripple, which had a really cool gay vibe, and had a fantastic dinner that night at Flatwater restaurant. Yesterday, on our way to PA, we stopped at a huge antique store in Ohio, the Heart of Ohio antique center, which was so well organized and gave me a glimpse of what the original intent of this trip was supposed to be about. Alas, Corb's heart was not in it, and for all there was, I ended up buying more in comic books that he did in terms of anything lighting related.

A mixed bag, to be sure. I do think that we overstepped our mark here and planned too long of a distance to travel, which if we do further road trips in the future we will need to moderate. Certainly Corb's situation added to this, but a lot of this week felt like, travel huge long distances for hours at a time, arrive at a place when it is too late to really do much, and then drive off at noon for another long day of traveling. That isn't good for the body or the adventurous soul.

There has to be a better solution than that. But still, good that we tried it and next time, we will be better informed, right? Onward!