The sticky note I found on my bathroom mirror this morning took me 40 minutes to deal with.
Sticky notes are my #1 method of communication with Sister Katy. It’s almost comical, considering how many options we have available to us. Rather than text messaging, emailing, calling or talking in person, we use sticky notes. We practically never see each other in our waking hours; Katy comes home well after Zack and I have turned in for the night, and I get up many hours before she would ever dream of dragging herself out of bed. The written word is almost necessary.
Anyhow, this morning’s sticky note asked for me to please give her directions to The Stonehenge of Texas. The Stonehenge of Texas is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a place in Hunt, Texas (read: 300 miles away from the DFW) where Mr. Al Shepperd thought it would be awesome to re-create Stonehenge in 60% height accuracy and 90% circumference accuracy just for kicks. Some years later, he threw in a couple of Easter Island Head statues and VOILA! Here you have one of the most fascinating road-side stops in Texas.
It also happens to be one of the most out-of-the way roadside stops in Texas. Unlike the caverns located on the I-35 corridor, or the Giant Rocking Chair at 20 and 183 in West Texas, these statues, though very impressive, are WAY OUT OF THE WAY.
So when Katy told me that she was going to take “a day-trip out to Stonehenge with her friend,” I had the most mom-ish reaction of all time. Instead of thinking, “WOAH! AWESOME! Those ARE cool and that WOULD be fun,” a fully-formed bulleted list popped up in my brain, listing all the reasons that going to see Stonehenge right now could be a questionable idea. Does she realize how much that would cost? How far away that is? Has she seen gas prices? Who is she wanting to go with? Have I met them? Would they take her car? How long had it been since her last oil change? What were her tires looking like? Was her cell phone charged? Surely they would take someone else’s car cause she doesn’t have a radio right now! Would she try to drive 600 miles in one day with headphones in? That’s ILLEGAL! She’ll need to leave in the morning so that she can see the statues in the daylight. I hope she went to bed early last night, because if she didn’t and she leaves early, she’ll be driving tired! I hope she doesn’t DIE! DEAD SISTERS ARE NOT VERY MUCH FUN!
I realize that I am prone to exaggeration, but I kid you not when I tell you that each and every one of these thoughts shot through my brain with rocket speed the moment I read her sticky note. It took me 20 minutes to whittle down my list of concerns to what I considered to be a “reasonable” number, and then 15 more minutes to edit those concerns into a “Ha, ha! I’m being concerned, but Look! So witty! Not even overbearing!” form so as not to receive the maximum number of possible eye-rolls per minute. (I think I set this family record when I was about 15. Somewhere around 60?)
Turns out that most of my motherly concerns weren’t yet necessary because even though she is planning on dumping over $100 worth of gas just to see some statues for 15 minutes (O, the freedom of youth! O, to not be locked into so many schedules! and O, why the heck isn’t she doing this on a long weekend when it could be part of a fun camping trip!?), she is planning on doing that on Thursday (maybe) and I have plenty of time to lecture her about road safety between here and there. Even if it does require a whole pad of sticky notes.
Photo used with permission from RoadsideAmerica.com
Please leave voila spelled v-i-o-l-a.
That stringed instrument’s name probably doesn’t get mentioned very often and it made me snicker and smirk quietly at work.
And apparently also makes me rhyme.
Be quiet, I mean it!
In my defense: I had it spelled ‘viola,’ and then spell check told me that I was wrong. So I changed it. Should have googled it. Google knows way more than spell check.
Glad it made you snicker
Oh you didn’t get the “be quiet, I mean it…”
apparently I have seen Princess Bride too many times.
I haven’t seen it in years. I need to fix that.
gas really has gotten expensive.
*note the following in unrequested advice regarding finances-disregard if at all offensive. I love you, and I think you are smart and pretty. And that Zack is the best husband in the world (besides my stepdad)and I would take one like him if such a one exsisted, which aone does not.
…If you can afford the mortgage payments-meaning getting payments similar to the cheap rent you got right now (which I think that you can) then you will be throwing your money away that much longer if you continue to rent. I know you know this. I know Zack knows this. I know owning is scary, and you guys have a whole helluvalot on your plates, but I thought maybe you could use a good arguement in favor of what your gut and your homing devices are telling you to do. Not that rushing the Cop is a good idea. He will move at his own pace, much like I do when getting ready in the morning.