Wednesday, September 27, 2006

America's Best Contacts and Eyeglasses

America's Best Contacts and Eyeglasses.

That's where I get the kids' eyes done because you get an eye exam plus 2 pair of glasses for $69.99 plus tax. If you knew my kids, you'd understand why they need two pair each. They always have a backup pair for when the inevitable happens. As a kid, I cared for my glasses as if I loved them. I didn't love them, I despised them, but I had a certain fondness for breathing, and if I'd have broken my glasses, my mother would have made sure I missed out on lot of breathing. Being a different kind of mother than my mother was, I decided that fear should be used sparingly as a child rearing resource, and just get them 2 pair, therefore avoiding the necessity of making them fear that I might, someday, deprive them of breath.

The problem with that is that the nearest America's Best is a 45 minute drive away, and in a different state, still a Carolina, but a different state nonetheless. I despise the drive almost as much as I despised my coke bottle bottom glasses. Terra has developed a horrible habit of getting car sick in the first 5 minutes of any trip. The other 40 minutes were spent begging her not to throw up between her frequent threats to do just that. Sometimes we win. Today, an hour and thirty minutes of travel time, and somehow, we won. Thank God.

Tomorrow morning we have a play date at a park about 15 minutes from the house. We'll be in Trish's van. I hope we win tomorrow too. We've never gone on a play date before. I'd like to avoid arriving at our first covered in chunks and smelling like sour milk, thanks. Frankly, if she pukes in the van, she'll be depriving me (and Trish) of some of the joy of breathing, and I've already covered this topic...

Despite the motion sickness worries of the trip, I did enjoy the scenery. All along side the interstate are forests that have been devoured by kudzu. Kudzu finds its way into my poetry a lot. Kudzu is cloying suffocating deadly stuff - at least to the forest that bears the weight of it. From a distance though, it creates a mysterious picture that intrigues me. I wish it was the mystery that appealed to me rather than the suffocation that I identify with so well.

Anyway, I think I almost wrote a poem (on the palm of my hand of all places) and that's more than I've been able to say for months.

8 comments:

  1. My daughter used to get car sick all the time. We had to put barf bags in the car. My wife said it was my crazy driving that made her sick.

    Thanks for the kind write up in the ttt. You liked my story better than my wife. She said I just used her as a starting point for another one of my news stories.

    Good job on getting some news coverage by BTV. I guess my station wasn't interested? I always tell people to call all four stations and the papers if you want just one to come. Those damn news people, can't trust them to do the right thing and give up a crime scene for a good cause.

    cheers

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  2. I was out walking Indie the other day and a poem started to approach me, too. I got as good a look at it as I could, but I was afraid I'd scare it and it'd run away, so I wrote down what I could remember and left it for revisiting later. I will let you know if I see it again, and you do the same. :)

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  3. ugh...my kids still get car sick if they sit on the wrong side of the car and they're pretty much grown! Hopefully all goes well with you playdate.

    Keep writing, E. I'm sure it will be beautiful. I have some writing of my own to do. *sigh* love you.

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  4. E, I think Mary already touched on it, but from personal experience, I'd say try switching her carseat to another spot in the car and see if it helps. We traveled a lot as kids, and I knew exactly where NOT to sit if I wanted to hold down my lunch. My dad actually sold a very rare and now worth lots of money sports car because I puked every time I even thought about having to get in it.

    Did you know that you can cook and eat kudzu? Serioulsy! Can't say I've tried it, but heck, why not?

    Hope your playdate goes well.

    BTW, for those prices, I'd drive there and back 5 or 6 times. We recently spent close to $500 for one pair of glasses each, and that was on special!

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  5. Ken~
    I thought it was a very sweet story, sweet that she called you, sweet that you went and did the story, and sweet that you obviously hold her in such a sweet spot in your heart. But then, I don't live with you, and it isn't my garbage that needs taking out ;)

    Your place of employment failed to respond to my queries. I was really hoping, actually, that I'd get a response and maybe even get to meet you in the deal ;)

    E2 ~ I know just what you mean. Sometimes I sit in the yard holding a pen, hoping I'll entice one to come eat from my hand. They've been more skittish as of late...

    Mary~
    It does seem to be one spot, nd only in the one vehicle. Wish I could afford to fix our van! She never puked in it!

    Ang~
    LOL by the time you got here, youd spend at least $500 on gas and stuff! Email me your eyes, I'll have them checked and some glasses made up for ya ;)

    Eat Kudzu? Really? Yeah, Dandelions too, never tried it though.

    And I'm pretty sure it's something about the work truck that makes Terra pukey. Damn it!

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  6. I absolutely LOVE that you wrote a poem on the palm of your hand! :-D

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  7. I still get car sick - especially if I ride in the back seat. It is the most miserable experience in the world to be car sick in a car full of lucky non-motion-sickness-prone people - I say that after 45 years of it. What an awful, horrible feeling. Don't take her to any movies or rides where the film makes you feel like you're moving. Poor baby.

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  8. Real nice pattern and fantastic articles , hardly anything else we need : D. optometrist calgary

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