Joe and I were very lucky to host some of our favorite friends this weekend. The last time we saw them was when we journeyed to Africa for their wedding almost exactly one year ago. The trip was amazing. We traveled to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania and then throughout the country. Our favorite part was visiting the home of our friends in the Southern Highlands. A lush green area full of tea fields, monkeys and one of the areas highest HIV infection rates in the world. Our friends work with the local people, an orphanage and a local hospital. It changed my life to see how they were changing the lives of the people around them every day.

The above photo is some of the children who live at the orphanage our friends are responsible for. I love this photo. I took over 2,000 photos on the trip, and I think this is my favorite. We watched this couple get married last year on an island off the coast of Bagamoyo, Tanzania. Due to a last minute complication, Joe actually officiated the wedding! Of course, it was not legit until they got the necessary paperwork filled out in their home village.

I made dinner tonight for my Grandma and her friend Margaret. I think I am starting to get really freaked out about getting old. It seems like kinda a bummer. Oh well, I think I might just not think about it too much. The scenery here in Florida is gorgeous. The beaches are white like snow, though I’m not super excited about being reminded of snow right now.

It’s really pretty outside, but the weather still sucks. They were actually talking about snow on Thursday, that’s nuts. I think this photo really says it all. Is that sand or snow?

We made it to Fort Walton Beach at about 1:00pm today. It was a short, but scenic drive from Birmingham through the real deep south. Lots of junky trailers and run down houses interrupted by huge southern mansions. Strange country. We stopped at a gas station in a really really small town that smelled like sulfur.  There was a lady in front of me at the check out, she was buying 3 packs of cigs and a 6-pack of beer. This is what she said, “I didn’t quit smokin’, I quit drinkin’, but I thought I’d keep this in my trunk just in case.” Seriously, I wish I had videotaped it.

The rest of tonights blog comes straight from Grandma. As she often does, she took some time tonight to read me some of her recently written poems. She writes a lot, and has published a fantastic book of her works. Many of her recent stuff is about death, it seems to be a theme for her right now. I can understand why, she is 85 and all of her peers are dead or dying. This one struck me, it is about a new etched glass door she had put on to her condo in Plymouth. She can be inspired by anything.

My Window by Betty Jane Gove

I can look at beauty every day.
The tall blue iris reminds me
the spring will come each year.
bringing all the newness
That rises from the Earth.
We must keep beauty in our sights
Or the mundane tasks of daily life
Will stifle all we’ve ever dreamed about
I will keep my eyes on the stately iris.
They rise up from slumber in the bog
It will be my talisman when winter nears.
A harbinger of future springs to come.

    2nd day of driving done. I’m really tired of driving. I’m also starting to get irritated too easily. Luckily, I can just focus on the road and nod my head. We drove from Champaign, IL to Birmingham, AL today. We stopped a few more times than yesterday which was fine, we still made it in 9 hours. Wow, so far this is a really boring post. I had much more interesting intentions, but I’ve got nothin’ right now.
    We ate at Chili’s and the server made sure to warm us that there are jalapeños in the appetizer. I’m positive he did this because my Grandma is old and white and he saw my Minnesota driver’s license and figured we couldn’t handle the spicy stuff. Whatever Alabama, Grandma ate a pulled pork sandwich covered in a raw jalapeño  slaw and didn’t mention it once.
   I would also like to point out that I left Minnesota to get away from the cold, and it is 30 degrees here. Lame. It’s cool, I think it will be at least 45 in Florida.

    Is it wrong that Alabama feels more foreign than some of the foreign countries I’ve been to? I think that this is probably because I totally judged the South long ago, and it is totally not fair, but every Confederate flag I see reinforces the stereotypes. Sorry Alabama, but Confederate flags are just not cool with me.

    First leg of the journey to Florida is done! We left bright and early at 9am this morning. Well, that is not usually bright and early, but for the last few weeks it totally qualifies. We made it all the way to Madison, WI without stopping. I pretty much kept my eyes on the road while Grandma chatted about anything and everything. She is definitely going through the stage in life where one reflects on the past. She remembers everything, and tells me lots of stories about her and my Grandfather’s past travels. From what I gather, they drove across the country about 6,000 times while my Dad and his siblings were young.

   In between the chatting and the 10 minute snooze she took, pictured above, we listened to some music. By the way, she would kill me if she knew I posted this photo, so no one teach her how to use a computer in the next few days. We listened to a Willie Nelson CD that she just bought the other day. I had no idea she liked Willie Nelson, it doesn’t really make any sense. When we needed to “give the CD player a rest,” we listened to some tapes. Yep, I said it, tapes. We listened to some big band music and as she mouthed the words, I could see the memories sparkling in her eyes. I think that music brings her straight back to dancing with my Grandfather at sorority formals at Gustavus.

    She speaks so much about him and their life together. I know each minute of this journey reminds her of the many times they made this trip together. That, by the way, seems to be the only picture I have of him on my computer. I think he passed right before I got this one, so I found this pic on a list of retired Mound, MN teachers. Each town we pass through she remembers whether they stopped, and what sort of landmarks were there. She says he could find a Civil War historic site any where it existed. If it was on the map, they went there. Of course, stops for antiquing were totally out of the question. It reminded me of a trip we took to Colorado with Grandma and Grandpa when I was young. I think we stopped at every scenic outlook in the state. If fact, I remember writing a very snarky comment about it in my diary at the time. Looking back, I was young and easily annoyed. I would really give anything to have him here with us, telling me to slow down on the road. But then again, he would never have let me drive.

So in closing tonight, though this was not originally planned, I think these next few posts will be dedicated to Grandma and Grandpa – their past lessons, and the ones I’m sure await me in the next 5 days. Well, now I guess it is back to watching English comedies at full hotel TV volume.
  

A few years ago, New Year’s Day 2006 I think, I decided that that year was totally going to be my year. It was a great year. I curated 6 exhibitions at the outsider art gallery I ran, I reconnected with Joe, overall it was a really good year. When 2007 rolled around I decided that it would also be my year, and it was also pretty fantastic. I took multiple trips to Chicago, I visited Joe for the first time in Lincoln, I loved every second of living in Northeast Minneapolis. Needless to say, 2008 and 2009 were also totally my years. I made the decision to go back to school for nursing, I went to Africa and I moved in with the BF.

2010 is totally my year. This is the year I will graduate from nursing school. This is the year I will get to spend more than just weekends with Joe. This is the year I will blog. I also have a feeling this is the year I will discover I have hidden talents, and I will put them to good use.

Hopefully, this is also the year I will travel to Asia. Other hopes for 2010 include eating half as much in twice as much time, making new friends in Rochester and getting a nursing job in a cool, yet to be determined, city of our choice.

My first adventure of 2010 starts bright and early tomorrow morning. My father will drop me off at Grandma’s house, and I will then drive her and her car to Fort Walton Beach, Florida where she is a proud Snowbird. Everyone seems to think I am crazy for doing this, but I really can’t wait. I’m excited to “see America.” The furthest I have ever driven is between Minnesota and Lawrence, KS about 1,000 times, and I’ve seen enough of that America – no offense Iowa and Missouri, but you guys are boring.

Our route will take us through what I’m sure will be gems of cities. First stop Champaign, Illinois followed by Paduca, KY, Nashville, Birmingham and Montgomery, AL. Oh, and it will not be -15F in any of those places. So, suck it Minnesota winter, I’m done with you for a few days.

    Even after spending most of my life in Minnesota, I had never visited, and knew only two things about Rochester, MN. One, it is the home of the Mayo Clinic, and two, it is host to many many sports tournaments for kids. After living here a month, I can’t say I know much more. The town is rightfully nicknamed “Med City.” This is because the town basically is the Mayo Clinic.

    Joe and I love to eat out, and I bet we have been 90% of the restaurants in town. This is always a cool experience as every time we seem to sit next to a family speaking a different language. We hear French, Italian, Arabic, Croatian (ok, I’m guessing on that one), etc. I love it, I can’t get enough of it. It is like having my own little trip abroad while living in this typical, big-box-store-filled, mid sized Minnesota town. When I really need to soak up the feeling, I head downtown. I park my frozen car in the garage next to Wells Fargo and head into the skyways and subways that save to people of Rochester and visitors to Mayo from the frigid Minnesota Winter.  My first stop is the most beautiful and surprising Barnes and Noble in the world.

 

    So this is my first blog. I’ve been inspired by others’ blogs I’ve recently come across. Originally this inspiration translated itself into a recommendation to my talented-with-the-pagesister that she write a blog. Why this didn’t initially make me think I could write a blog simply just comes down to a personal meme. I never thought of myself as a writer (still don’t), and I actually never thought I liked writing, but why should this stop me.
  
    As I said in the description, the purpose of this blog is to remind myself of all the aspects of my life that reinforce my creativity and drive – all the things that tend to get ignored in the hustle and bustle of daily life while in nursing school. These things include art, photography, travel, cooking and more. Inevitably, when I start the new semester of my accelerated BSN program at Minnesota State University, Mankato, some of my blogging will turn its attention to that.

    So the hustle and bustle I spoke of above has pretty much been on hold for the last three weeks. I finished my first semester at Mankato in early December and decided it was also time to finish my 3 month stint of living in a crap-hole apartment in Mankato. It was also time to finish the nearly 3 year very long and more recently less long distance arrangement between me and the boyfriend Joe. After his charming agreement, I decided to move in with him in Rochester – the easternmost point in the Triangle.    

    The first week was full of moving and organizing and merging of the stuff. We have both lived on our own for a number of years now, so we have a lot of stuff. After lots of organizing, and lots of trips to the Goodwill, things are starting to look settled. Though there is still stuff left to do, I really have exhausted my will to organize and clean – just in time for the New Year. I have also satiated my thirst for television, even with 200 channels and full access to the TPT Create Channel.

    Needless to say, it is time to explore. So, I’m off to see what downtown Rochester has to offer. I’ll be back with photos!