March 20 & 21, 2025
It seemed to take forever to leave to drive to Salt Lake City. For some reason I have to have everything nice and clean for when I get home, so I vacuumed and wipe down the kitchen and clean the bathroom and empty all the garbage and so forth. Plus I made some food to take with us. All of this actually only took about 2 hours but it seemed like a lot longer.
At 10:30 AM we were on our way. I had downloaded an audiobook called Island of Fog and we listened to it on the drive. It was really good and I downloaded the second book in the series called Labyrinth of Fire for us to listen to next. The drive to Salt Lake City was uneventful. I split the drive between the interstate and backroads so it took us an hour longer but it was worth it to see new country.
We arrived at my son Scott’s at around 7 PM and I was tired. It was good to see my son and daughter-in-love Delany. We went to a Thai restaurant and ate. I had some sort of vegetable dish. There was a big robot in the restaurant that Angel wanted me to take a picture of her in front of. When we got back, I had a bad headache. Angel and I brushed our teeth and went straight to bed.
Saturday morning I woke up at 6 AM with Angels feet in my face. The joys of sleeping with children. I had slept through the night which was unusual but welcome. I felt well rested and wrote my blog until 8 AM, when Angel woke up she was hungry as usual. I got up and made her some oatmeal and made myself tea. Delany woke up and we all sat in the living room together painting our fingernails. Painting my fingernails is not something I normally do but I joined in with Angel and Delany for the fun of it.
When Scott got up, we all walked to a nearby park and let the dogs run while Angel played on the jungle gym. After getting back from the park, we went to downtown Salt Lake City to the farmers market. It was a beautiful sunny 80° day and it felt so nice to be out and about, soaking up some vitamin D. I got fresh made cherry juice at the market and it was delicious.
Next we went to my son Shawn’s house. Scott decided he was going to ride his fancy crotch rocket motorcycle there and I asked if I could ride with him. It has been years and years since I’ve been on one of those kind of motorcycles and I thought it would be fun to experience riding on one again. Scott said sure and Delany agreed to take Angel with her in her car.
I was excited and nervous about the motorcycle ride. The only way to Shawn’s is the interstate and the thought of going that fast was terrifying. Scott assured me that everything would be fine. I hoped he was right. Scott had an extra helmet and motorcycle coat for me to wear and we were off. All was going well through town until we started up the ramp to get on the interstate. Scott accelerated quickly to get up to speed and the terror that flooded through me was so big and intense that I thought I was going to have a heart attack. My life flashed before my eyes and I heard myself yelling “please God don’t let us die” as I held on to Scott as tight as I could. Scott couldn’t hear me and cruised along at a mere 89 mph (why we had to go that fast is unknown). I kept reminding myself to breathe and relax. The breathing part was easy enough but the relaxing part wasn’t as easy…. relax, tense up, relax, tense up….ahhhh.
It takes a half hour to get to Shawn’s and thankfully we made it there without incident. My body was so stiff by the time we arrived that I practically had to roll off the motorcycle in a tight little ball. I was grateful we were still alive though, as I slowly got my legs working again.
It was wonderful seeing Shawn, my daughter-in-love Bri and my grandkids, Sam and Alex. The kids all played in the game room, while I visited with the “grown” kids. After a while, we all ate and played a dice game that none of us seemed to know the name of. It was a lot of fun and it was good spending time everyone.
At around 7 PM, we headed back to Scott and Delany’s. Again, I rode on the motorcycle with Scott but this time I wasn’t scared at all. During the ride, my mind wandered and I enjoyed looking at the scenery. It reminded me that facing fear takes away its power. Not that I have to do dangerous things in order to face my fear but opportunities do arise.
Back at Scott and Delany’s, Scott went to hang out with friends while Angel, Delany and I watched a movie, read and painted our nails some more. When it was time for bed Angel wanted to sleep on the couch rather than in the guest bed with me. I was happy about that and looked forward to not waking up with feet in my face. We went to bed and I wrote my blog notes before drifting off to sleep.
Thank you for reading my blog and being a part of my life. I appreciate you!
Love, Victoria
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