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Wednesday, February 4, 2009

On the Road Again


Travelogue something something.

It is 8:11 p.m. and I'm waiting for The Dancer to return home from the studio so that she and I can load up the car and hit the road. Yes, it's another college visit trip. Actually, she's going to be auditioning for the dance program at another large college in Georgia.

But this is a combo trip. I have to attend a strategic planning meeting for work. The resort where the meeting takes place is near where The Dancer must be on Friday so we're making the trip together. I must admit, except for the surly, silent, squinting creature she is in the very early morning, I'm really quite digging spending so much time with The Dancer.

While I'm stifling yawns, pretending to be interested in developing our vision for the future and slipping out of meetings to go check to make sure that the next thing on the agenda is good to go, The Dancer will be hanging out at the resort, soaking up the luxury and giggling to herself about missing some classes. No matter. I'll drag her skinny bottom to the group dinner tonight and parade her before the bosses. We haven't done anything like that since she was about four years old. I hope she doesn't fart in front of my boss like she did back then.

As we prepared for this trip, MathMan and I were going through all sorts of mental gymnastics and scheduling coordination activities. We drew up large matrices on our bedroom wall, instituted Level 5 calendar interfacing and called in a team on consultants to help us figure out how I could be at my meeting, MathMan and the Dancer could be driving to her audition and The Actor and Cupcake could be transported to school all at the same time. Living away from any and all family members is a good thing until both parents have commitments.

To make things more fun, my car was in the shop, The Dancer's is having tire issues on her car and we were going to have to play beat the clock to pick up a rental. Luckily, things came together this afternoon. My car was repaired in time for us to pick it up on our way home from work, MathMan still has his substitute secured and The Dancer was able to get out of two classes and switch work schedules tomorrow.

How can I not be happy when things come together so well?

I'll tell you how. I can look at my car and see that it is covered in inches of filth that I'd been perfectly happy to ignore until I realized I'd be pulling into the driveway of the Ritz-Carlton tonight. I might even run into Board members who would take one look at my dented and filthy car and decide that I just wasn't the kind of staff they need.....

Sadly, when it's 34 degrees in Georgia, the car washes close up like clams. What to do?

Well, I have towels, water, Windex and a warm garage. There's nothing like washing your car with Windex. Please - no lectures on the paint job. I know. If you've ever met my father, you know, I know. I just don't care. The car is "clean." Enough, at least.

So now it's 8:31. The Dancer called to say she's on her way. I have to finish packing and load the car. We have about a three hour drive ahead of us. Maybe I'd better have some coffee......

16 comments:

  1. Might want to start with a quad mocha. Sounds like a fun trip. Drive safe and keep us a breast of your travels.

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  2. Wow! An adventure. We all seem wrapped up in our adventures at the moment. I'm torn between fantasies of life with Cal and building an eight foot wall around myself. You're all off to the Ritz Carlton. I use windex for everything.

    Hi Saoirse darling. I've been such a bad blog friend lately.

    All wrapped up in my fantasy life. A book deal and a good man.

    Add the right school/dance program for the Dancer and a successful business trip for you! Good luck to us all!

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  3. i understand the car thing
    back when I had Mom's VW Beetle I went to some charity thing at teh local Humvee dealership. And they had valet parking which of course I took advantage of.
    And the dealership guy btook me keys and said "We'll just park your bug in that Humvee over there"
    Guess who's laughing now!

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  4. See, all those math gyrations paid off, level 5 matrices and all. And now... off to psych myself up for the morning's crying fit.

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  5. sounds like a plan to me. have fun and good luck on your trip together.

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  6. Washing the car with Windex - I love it! You are nothing if not resourceful!

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  7. I had to wash my car with Ivory Liquid once. I didn't have time to rinse and the nest day in sunlight it was covered with the shadows of tiny bubbles. I rather liked it that way.

    It sounds like an excellent adventure and I'll be hoping all goes well. All you have to do in this world is keep on dancing :-)

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  8. Have a safe trip! Have a great trip!

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  9. I guess when you say 34 degrees you're not talking celsius, are you?

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  10. have a wonderful trip with your darling daughter! and drink some coffee please!

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  11. My, level five calendar interfacing! That is as close to def con (in my case deaf con) three as you can get. No wonder defacing bedroom walls with matrices were needed.
    Hope all went well, as the planning would indicate a smooth trip.
    Great post Lisa!

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  12. I hope everything goes on schedule and a good time is had by all.

    When I lived in Philly and our car was dirty with snow dirt, I would carry buckets of hot water down and clean the car. Being from the sunshine state, I just couldn't bare the idea of a dirty car, so I know what you felt.

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  13. Let me get this straight -- the economy is in the toilet, but the professional association that employs you is meeting at an upscale resort? Are you sure you don't work for investment bankers?

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  14. Good luck! Dancer, Break a leg! Safe travels.....

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  15. I haven't washed my car since my last date.

    Yes, it's been that long.

    Be safe and have fun.

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  16. Human cloning will solve all of your problems.

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