Up and Coming

Well, I survived the Zombie Apocalypse-- oh, I mean traveling across country to OK with my two daughters and my father. A generational tour you could call it. Overall, the trip was good until about the last two hours of our 11 hour drive (which was turning into 13 hours after road trip stops) when we stopped in Limon, CO for a potty break.

It was dark, cold and rainy. My youngest had complained for the past hour about the need to pee but then couldn't find her flip-flops in the car to walk into the gas station. There was some encouragement (all right-- yelling) about putting anything on her feet she could find and hence we entered the gas station with her in her Sponge Bob slippers to a non-functioning toilet.

One of my childhood homes.

The joy of road trips.

It is fun to look back. For a brief time, my family lived in small Kansas town. The house was pretty close to some major streets. I was about 4-5 during those years. One day, I remember a man beckoning me to follow him. And so what did I do? Tell my mom?

Oh no-- I followed.

A neighbor found me walking along the highway and picked me up and brought me back home. Who knows what would have happened if that man got a hold of me. I think back to the situation as a good beginning for a suspense novel.

When I was returned safely home my mother didn't know whether to beat me to death or hug me to death. It was a little of both and I remember crying into my Snoopy sheets until my father got home. I'm sure my mother felt like if I was locked in my room I wasn't wandering down lonely Kansas highways.

My father took me by that house-- as seen in the picture-- and it's fun to try and remember what it was like living there.

I'm amazed it still stands.

For you this week--

Author Christy Barritt stops by with a few author questions for me to tackle. One regarding medically induced comas and the other about medical power of attorney.

Hope you guys have a GREAT week! Anyone road tripping it for the holidays?