Today's · memoirs

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Proceed.

One of the reasons we planned our trip for the end of April was to be there for Queen's Day and the coronation of the new king. In the Netherlands, April 30 is celebrated as Koninginnedag, the queen's birthday. Queen Beatrix was actually born on January 31, but her mother, Queen Juliana, was born on April 30, and it's a lot more fun to celebrate outdoors in the Netherlands in April than in January, so they kept the old date. The new king, Willem-Alexander, was born on April 27, so from now on it'll be King's Day on April 27.

It's a BIG holiday that lasts two days. The night before is Queen's Night, and the party gets started early...

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When we booked our tickets, for some reason we thought it would be a good idea to save money by taking one flight from San Francisco to Copenhagen, and then another flight to Amsterdam. We would have a layover in Copenhagen and could go do something fun in a new city we'd never been to.

If this idea is appealing to you, take my advice. Do not do this.

We got on the road around 7 AM and headed down Interstate 5, also known as the most boring drive in California.

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There are people who are having a great Mother's Day, and to them I say have a wonderful time.

But I also see a lot of people who are NOT having a great Mother's Day, and who feel angry, hurt, alone, guilty, distraught, and a thousand other feelings.

I did not write this. It's by John Shore.

Raised Too Alone

If

your mother

was caustic,

toxic,

abusive,

vindictive,

twisted,

dangerous:

If she was irresistibly drawn

to making much too clear

that her unhappiness—

her pain,

her dysfunction,

her drama—

was more precious to her

than you could ever be,

so that as a child

you

had to live your life

frightfully and desperately

scrounging

for whatever

fundamentally unacceptable

version of love

you could squeeze from her,

then this Mother’s Day,

while others

(as you imagine; as we all imagine)

are basking in the warmth

of their exemplary mothers,

you close your eyes,

and say a prayer

for two mothers:

the one you never had,

and the one she never had.

And then say a loving prayer

for yourself,

for the child

raised too alone.

And then open your eyes—

and there is the world,

beautiful again.

And

fuck ‘em.

Fuck ‘em all.

Because you are still here,

and you are not done yet.

We got home about 6 PM last night after two rather lengthy days of travel. As Anne Lamott wrote about flying from India to California, "it took several years and was pretty awful." But we are safely back.

My head feels like it is imploding and I can still hear the buzzing of being on a plane. I slept in bits and pieces last night before getting up early to go grocery shopping (when you open the fridge and all you see is a jar of pickles and some tortillas from last month, it's time to go shopping). I still feel woozy and shouldn't be allowed anywhere near large machinery.

However, the cats seem glad to see me. Maggie May celebrated by throwing up copiously. Yaz brought in a rat or a gopher or a heffalump, which I was too tired to throw out and may still be in the house.

I downloaded my photos but I am too crazy to deal with them. You'll see them soon enough.

Check out Joe's latest adventures on the Pacific Crest Trail at http://timeisyourstotake.wordpress.com/.

Good to be home.

Just checking in with yáll. I have caught a cold and so am functioning on a low-level basis. I have some codeine cough syrup in my bag, purchased at the local apoteek without a prescription. I will be taking about a liter of it very soon.

Lovely coronation ceremony - we caught it on TV and it is probably on YouTube so check it out.

Also, my nephew Joe is still walking the Pacific Crest Trail and has updated his blog:

https://timeisyourstotake.wordpress.com/

so check that out as well.

And a belated happy birthday to the divine yummydeb!

I guess, more or less safely. Gary is getting over some sort of bug, and me, I took a tumble last night but have little if any serious damage. My right hand hurts, though.

Beautiful the last few days, raining today. I've taken approximately 5,922,807 photos so far. I won't make you sit through all of them, though.

More later....

Well, let's see. Last time I talked to you...( Cut for photo-heavy...Collapse )

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The road before them...

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Joe, Anastacia, and Madi. The badass team.
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