Life had accomplished what it seemingly had set out to do. I felt kicked in the teeth and beat up enough that I was going to give up. In an earlier story titled, “As the Journey Goes” I addressed that despondent period of my life.
This story is about the very next part of my journey towards emotional healing and happiness.
Moving day had finally arrived. My son and I were heading south to my brother’s home. We had a very long drive ahead of us. The emotions about leaving seemed to be very mixed up in my head. Questions like “Am I doing the right thing here?” and “What if when I get there I want to come back?” was reeling around in my head. It was clear by my son’s attitude that he did not want to leave his life with friends and school. He was all of 12 years old, and this move to him was absolutely crazy.
My family had been very supportive of my decision to move. While most of them lived in the same state, they were not in my everyday life. They had not witnessed most of the mistakes I had been making, but when there were family gatherings, they could see the negative emotional changes occurring in me.
My father, while supporting the geographical change, was very concerned about how I was going to get there. My car was about 10 years old, had a lot of mileage on it and, had one of those tiny donut-looking tires for a spare. Having contacts in the tire industry, my father made sure that the tires were new, and went as far as getting me a normal tire for my spare. What no one thought of was the car was going to be bursting at the seams with mine and my son’s possessions. We were only taking what we could fit into that car.
I am not sure who actually came up with the idea of strapping my spare onto the outside of the trunk, but that is where it went for the whole trip.
My father was also very worried about a single mom with a young boy traveling alone. He knew that my sister and her husband and their young daughter were taking a vacation at the same time and were also traveling south in their little camper. To say he suggested we travel together would be understating his desires. He nagged me until I caved in. My sister was fine with me following her and her husband and even jumped on board trying to convince me that it would be fun.
Not being fond of her husband, I did not feel the same. It is one thing to visit someone for a few hours and treat their spouse with strained respect. It is quite another to maintain that for a couple of days.
A friend of mine had made sure my car was also equipped with a CB. In those days, Google maps, and GPS’ were not in existence. She and her husband wanted me to have something I could use in case of an emergency. I even thought of a ‘handle’ for myself: “Killer Bee”. That was the name of a drink I use to make when I was a bartender.
Having that CB was probably the only reason I finally gave in to my father’s wishes. Knowing that at any time I could part from my sister’s company and find my way on my own.
So here my son and I were, driving out of our neighborhood very early in the morning. It would take me about an hour to get to my father’s house which is where my sister and family were living. Leaving early seemed to be the consensus of everyone. There were a couple of major cities to get through, that would be smarter to travel through after morning rush hour and long before the 5:00pm rush hour.
When arriving at my father’s house, you can well imagine my irritation when finding that at the last minute, my brother-in-law revealed that he had a dentist appointment. It was scheduled for the early afternoon! That would mean that by the time we got on the road, we would hit the first major city (and the worst for traffic), right at the 5:00pm rush hour!
Had I known then, that this was only the beginning of the irritating and in some instances dangerous situations my brother–in–law put us in, I would have left without them.
Maybe someday I will document that part of the trip. Looking back on the incidences now that they are decades old, I can smile and even laugh at them.
As I had predicted, it did not take long before I knew that I could no longer travel with my brother-in-law. In all fairness to my sister and family, I did realize that the biggest irritation was that I was totally focused on getting to my final destination, which represented the beginning of a new chapter in my life. I did not want to dally around at one place or another. My sister with her family was on vacation, stopping and checking out the local sights IS what you do on vacation.
I still had a good 2 days left of travel when I decided it was time to part ways. My son and I said our goodbyes after breakfast and were now on our own. Traveling that day was a bit overwhelming due to the weather. Torrential down-pouring rain for a solid 5 hours of traveling can be extremely exhausting. I decided to get off the highway and find a place to stay for the night, sometime in the late afternoon.
The following morning the sun was brightly shining and it was pleasantly warm outside. After having breakfast, we were on our way. I could feel the excitement building inside me about finally getting to our destination and the beginning of a new life.
We were probably on the road for about an hour when my CB came on with a request asking if the “little Ford Continental” had their “ears on” (remember, the full-sized spare tire was strapped to the outside of my trunk). I picked up the mic and answered. He identified himself with his CB handle of “Young Blood” and told me that he was the 18 wheeler that had just passed me. He was wondering if I was traveling far and would I be so kind as to “ride his back door”. He explained that he had been driving all night and only had a few more hours to go to get to his destination. He knew that he could make it with no problem, but he was concerned that due to the light traffic, he might experience a little “white line fever”. I answered his request with a yes I could watch his back for him and then told him my CB handle as well. My son thought this was kind of cool and was paying attention for a little while as the truck driver and I chatted back and forth about general stuff. We did not talk consistently the whole drive, just checked in now and then with each other. I would say it was around mid-afternoon when we parted ways.
My son and I still had a few more hours to go. We finally reached my brother’s house early evening. Whew! What a relief to finally stop.
The trip was the beginning of this amazing new beginning and felt like it. I was exhausted from the drive, I was excited to be there, and I was scared to death! A completely new horizon was up ahead.
As with most new beginnings, everything seems strange and unfamiliar for the first few weeks. Settling into new jobs, schools, neighborhoods all take time. I had been at my new job for about two weeks, traveling the same route back to my brother’s house (I still was in unfamiliar territory and didn’t know of any other routes), when I was startled by the CB. It was a male voice asking if the “little Ford Mustang” with my home state license plates had their ears on. I answered yes. He asked what my handle was. When I answered “Killer Bee” and then asked what his was, I knew it was time to take the CB off the car when he answered that he was “The Bee Master”. Then, he asked where I was heading. I thank God that all I said was “home”. I’m sure he thought I was traveling back to the state I came from.