Finishers

So, I’m not really great at completing things. I love an idea, and a plan, and starting something. But finishing it? Ugh. It’s just not exactly for me. So as a surprise to probably no one, I didn’t finish my road trip. I’m not even sure I did half of it. Things got stressful. I had my birthday alone and missed my family and pretty much decided that there wasn’t a purpose to me continuing.

Here’s an abbreviated version of what I did to “finish” the trip:

• Had my 28th birthday in Chicago with a stranger. Met a kid on the architectural tour, decided to not tell him it was my birthday, and we had an adventure going to the Starbucks reserve and on a giant Ferris wheel even though I’m afraid of heights. Told him thank you for a great birthday when we got off then walked the two miles back to my hotel rather than share an uber.
• Drove from Chicago back to Michigan, just to pick up some flowers my friends sent me. Same day, drove to Wisconsin to leave my car at a family friend’s house and got to eat all of the Wisconsin food my heart desired.
• Flew home. Went to a wedding where I got to see in person people for the first time in a long time. Dyed my best friends’ hair pink. Yes, plural.
• Started talking to someone I shouldn’t have. I’m learning that doing it for the plot doesn’t always lead to good things for me.
• Flew to Florida with my sister and the family she nannied for. Fucking loved it. Was chaotic with a 10 year old and a baby and my best friend for a week straight. Played a lot of board games and saw a lot of lightning. Was a professional chauffer and a shit tennis player. Found my favorite book store, Gene’s.
• Came home, and went on a date with the person I shouldn’t have been talking to. Confused myself by having strong feelings for him despite previously hating him. Used him as an excuse to come home because I was really scared to keep going.
• Flew back to Wisconsin, ate so many cheese curds. Watched the fireworks from a farm on the fourth of July. Became overly obsessed with the fireflies instead, then cried when the fireworks scared them off.
• Drove across Nebraska. All of it. Stayed in a garden shed in Omaha that smelled like feet and watched Survivor on my phone so I could appreciate at least having a roof over my head. It didn’t really work, I was still very freaked out.
• Drove from Omaha to Wyoming and was stuck in the worst storm I had seen so far. Had to call my sister to see if it was a tornado or not (it wasn’t). But still had to pull over because the roads were too flooded to drive on.
• Stayed in a cowboy house in Wyoming. Decided to complete the mood by getting a steak to eat in the cowboy house. Waited at the restaurant for over an hour for the steak and made friends with the lady waiting with me. She gave me the lowdown on Wyoming which was basically, come back for the country music festival. But it was very beautiful there and I loved it.
• Left Cheyanne to go to Montana. Encountered the new worst storm I had ever seen. Drove for way longer than was safe or reasonable but did it anyways. Texted the family friend I was going to stay with what time I was showing up, and she told me there would be a party going on. I thought she was kidding, she wasn’t.
• Accidentally walked in on her changing while trying to find her, became instant friends. Was so tired that I missed the party, passed out with my clothes and shoes on on top of the sheets and woke up to the new biggest storm I had ever been in.
• Decided I was head over heels in love with Bozeman Montana, made a mental note to tell my step dad he was right.
• Drove from Montana to Idaho to see what the hype was about. Decided the big trees are very worth the hype.
• Played dungeons & dragons from a hotel in Coeur d’Alene. Was surprised by my friends all making shirts to tell me I had lost.
• Drove the most beautiful stretch of driving I had in my whole trip. Idaho to Portland. It was along a river, into the sunset, with Mt. Hood in the distance. I couldn’t get over how beautiful it was.
• Saw some of my favorite people in Portland. Met their human baby and the other’s fur baby.
• Chased a waterfall up a big mountain to see a meadow. There wasn’t a meadow, but apparently the ski resort at the top was called the meadows.
• Drove from Portland to Arizona and didn’t make it. Stopped in the definite biggest, scariest storm I have ever seen. It was an electric storm so just nonstop lightning, no water, very freaky. Stayed in a shit motel where the front desk girl thought I was in danger. Didn’t correct her because it meant she gave me the safest room.
• Made it to my dad’s in Arizona. Reaffirmed that I need to be around my people.
• Drove up to Nevada to stay with my grandpa. Went through his old things to find that I have a very freaky spiritual connection with his Aunt because all of the things I pulled out were hers.
• Drove back to California. Saw the man I was dating. Began to realize I fucked up.
• Went home to my mom’s, had a crisis that I had finished this without thinking, found an apartment and moved.

And that’s what you missed on Glee. Even though it’s been months, you’re basically caught up. I like my apartment okay, I love being close to my family. I’ve tried and failed to leave my job many times. I started dating someone new and not for the plot and I think that’s working out better than before. I listen to a lot of podcasts and still daydream about New Orleans. And I’m just trying to figure it out.

I’ll post some pictures on here in the coming weeks, and then I might start talking about my life again. It’s way less interesting, but I’m trying to make it fit me again. So we’ll see. Thanks, friends, for reading this.