The last two days have been so rough on me that I experienced a case of writer’s Tourette syndrome last night —  every word I wrote was un-publishable.  After writing an entire page of pure shit, reading it, hissing “what the hell is this dribble?” and sending the whole draft to the trash, I slept like a baby.  Today promised new chances to redeem myself through the written word.  I also don’t feel like punching anyone in the face anymore, so maybe I can just be a better person too.  For starters, it’s a long weekend here in our school district thanks to parent teacher conferences.  My girls and I always take advantage of these weekends and flee the prairie for the saving grace that is Kansas City.  I LOVE Kansas City!  It never fails to intrigue, never ceases to amaze, never becomes boring.  Every mile closer to KC made us giddier and more giggly as we hurtled down the road in my husband’s zippy little Ford.  We were so giddy in fact that when I spotted zebras grazing placidly in a field off of I-70’s exit 343 I actually thought that I was hallucinating because I was so happy.  I had to find out if they were actual zebras!

See, my father taught me how to spot wild game at a very young age and I am pretty good at it.  I mean, I spotted the zebras out in the field, and they actually blend in with grass better than one might think.  So at the next exit I whipped the car around and we zipped back toward where I had seen these alleged zebras.  Sure enough, right off of Exit 343, there was a fancy wrought iron gate and there they were, happily gorging on wild grasses a few hundred yards away.  We couldn’t get close enough for a picture without trespassing, but the girls and I were so excited by this exotic discovery that we announced today the Best Day Ever!  Another reason why the drive was so great is that this time of year is simply the most beautiful time to live in Kansas.  Mother Nature gets out her paint set and swathes everything as far as the eye can see — sky, clouds, prairie, trees, and rocks — in a riot of fall colors.  And the picture outside my windshield looks even better through my rose colored glasses today.  No really, my sunglasses have rose colored lenses, and they make everything look a little brighter.  I actually think everyone would feel better about life if they owned a pair.

So now I am sitting at my sister’s house relaxing, no longer worried about all the crazy things that happened to me the last two days.  The horrible Kansas drivers that need both their own lane as well as the oncoming lane on our extra wide roads won’t be able to run me into the ditch for an entire three days.  The only snot-nosed children I have to keep alive are my own until next Monday when I go back to work at the school.  The bills have all been paid and I have some spending money for wine, I mean “family stuff”.  Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen played on the radio right as we crossed the border from Kansas into Missouri, and I totally rocked out at the top of my lungs, because that is the perfect song to start a perfect weekend.  I set the girls free in my sister’s backyard with her dogs so they could run around and scream to their hearts’ content while I unwound from my drive, but then I found that I didn’t need to unwind today because the drive itself was the therapy for a short but very stressful week.  Can’t wait to see what the rest of the weekend has in store!

–G

Looking at life through rose colored glasses. Photo by Annie Van Delist

P.S.  I am serious about these glasses.  Go get you some!

Related articles

• Runner sets knitting record during Kansas City Marathon (chronicle.northcoastnow.com)
• Kansas City’s Boulevard Brewing is sold to Belgian firm (kansas.com)