The sun will come out tomorrow

(I don't know who Larua Pfalz is, but the picture was just too perfect not to use!)

Yesterday I drove down to Manchester for a dentist appointment and I ran a few errands afterwards.  It seemed that each errand took me to a different part of the city, and I found myself taking turns so that I would follow familiar territory -- just for the heck of it.

For example, I was at a stoplight when I remembered that I used to take this exit in the early days when Hallie was around 1 because her daycare was located there.  Weird, I'd forgotten that.  I remembered that I used to hit the grocery store after picking her up, several times a week.

As I flashed back to that time, I tried to recall how long that had been.  Couldn't remember though, but I do remember running into a father of one of Hallie's friends at the same daycare at that same grocery store years later ... and it was one of those deja vu experiences where it had happened before but now we had kids in high school.  Why had I stopped at that grocery store at that time?  Believe me, as he went on and on about his divorce, never getting to see the kids and the good old days when Hallie and Garrett were best friends, I think I made a mental note to never use that store again!  HAHAHA.

As I drove down the street where my office had been, I could recall the countless times that I'd rushed down that street in a mad panic to pick Hallie or Maddie and even Charlie at the daycare down the road ON TIME.  With my heart pounding I would glance at my watch and scream at the car in front of me to HURRY UP.  I was completely overwhelmed as I felt those post-traumatic stress feelings wash over me ... yikes.  What a sucky time that was.  It took about a full year of not working to completely loosen that pressure from my chest.  Always rushing and being late and feeling as though I was never giving my all to any thing properly.  SO NOT a way to live.  It wasn't living -- it was surviving.

Then I passed the deserted building where Jac-Pac Foods had been and I recalled the interview I had done with the owner.  My father had said to me not to come back with a picture of someone standing there smiling at the camera:  He said to get creative.  Well, I sweated that one out and as we walked the floor where the meat was being turned from carcass to hamburger, I asked if I could take a picture there.  He said no, I would have to take one in his office.  Disappointed that I wasn't going to bring back the bleeding lead, I glanced around the man's sterile office, wondering what could I do that would be different?  AAAAAAAARGH.  Then I spotted a trumpet hanging on the wall and I asked him if he played.  He said that he had in high school, and his wife hung the trumpet on the wall, he didn't know why.  I asked him if he ever played it, and he stood up and took it in hand and stared at it for a bit, then put it to mouth and blew.  

I had a hell of a time with the caption for that one, but I learned a very important lesson:  When you are interviewing someone and want to take a picture, you can get people to do pretty much anything!  I actually laughed as I remembered that, my drive down memory lane.

What was so interesting was the ride to Manchester had seemed so long.  I just don't get there very often anymore, despite the fact that that is where my dentist and bank are conveniently located!  The only time I think of actually switching dentists is when I am going up the steps to the office ... I've had the same hygienist and dentist since I was in my early 20's.   They are my friends, we chat, we have a history.  And it's only twice a year, I mean, it's not that much of a hardship!

The bank, well that is just silly, but my argument is that I still have a box of checks left! HAHAHA.  

What is so important to remember is that there is a world out there ... and on the days when I am feeling trapped in a gray world that has no redeeming qualities, I just need to remember that there are possibilities beyond the 20 miles I tend to travel in over the course of a week.  So when the woods aren't lush and inviting and the lake is speckled with ice and the mountain is no longer open for skiing, it is wise to remember that there are places one can go to find other things to do.  Even if it is just to drive around Memory Lane and remember moments from my very full and fulfilling life.