This little tale starts almost two months ago. I made an epic road trip with my children to New Jersey. It was epic in the number of states we traveled through, and the different kinds of food we encountered (NC BBQ and Jersey shore pizza!!), and the toll roads. Living in Florida I'm used to toll roads. I'm also used to knowing several routes around them. Really, who likes to pay tolls? When travelling in Delaware, you must pay to drive on their yucky roads (the wheel noise had me convinced there was something wrong with my new tires). But I encountered a random act of kindness. The car ahead of me paid my toll. I was floored! I've heard of this, but never had it happen to me! It made a huge impression on my children.
Which brings me to this weekend. My children and I stayed with my aunt in the Orlando area. There are lots of little toll roads all around Orlando. They're easy to avoid, but they shave lots of travel time by avoiding the I4 parking lot and traffic lights on side streets. I took one to avoid some lights on 192 and my daughter pipes up with "lets pay for the car behind us too mom". She had this huge grin on her face and the toll wasn't that much, so I agreed. I was very pleasantly surprised when the other driver went out of his way to wave a "thank you" and give us a big smile. I guess we made his day a little brighter.
And he shared his brightness with me. I saw the landscape around me from a new perspective. I'm not the biggest fan of where I live, but there is great beauty here. My sister recently "ooohhed" and "aaaahhed" over the abundance of wildlife here in Florida. The gators and turtles and birds and lizards and snakes and eagles and hawks and owls and other critters we almost consider a nuisance (opossums are everywhere, which is good because they eat venomous snakes, which are also everywhere). I've always thought of Spanish Moss as bug infested, not pretty wispy plants blowing in the breeze softening the shapes of trees, especially Live Oaks. The way Live Oaks grow so close to the ground the branches touch and root creating interesting climbing trees and umbrellas of leaves. I will admit to loving cypress domes! I love how they tower above the pastures and swamps, islands of trees in grassy plains. A flock of White Ibis or Egrets flying over the grasses and trees on a stormy afternoon is beautiful. Even just watching thunderstorm clouds build in the sky is beautiful. I would love a painting of just clouds towering into the sky with sunlight blazing off of them.
I've been stuck in a funk lately (I know I've said here a couple times), but I wanted to share some of the glow I found this weekend paying someone else's toll.
Crane Update:
Nothing to report since last week. I haven't had anymore Star Wars/Crane quality time. House work doesn't do itself and kids need help with homework. I've been blessed to spend weekends with family. And I may drop in on my aunt to watch Firefly because I loaned her my box set (I love you, I love Firefly, and I will pull weeds to watch Firefly with you!). No worries about the crane babies, I'm sure I'll have them done by Christmas. :)
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