Road trip

I watched the sunset over the ocean in Santa Monica on Friday night. Hopped in the car after working on Saturday and watched the sunset over the Mojave Desert. Watched the sunrise over Albuquerque this morning and here I am at the kitchen table in the house I grew up in. Total travel time door to door: 32 hours, 25 1/2 of which were driving. I only stopped when I needed gas. Talked to friends. Started singing to myself in Oklahoma, beginning, of course, with all the songs I could remember from the musical, "Oklahoma," then began to compose a musical of my own. I began to compose a musical once when sitting in traffic on my way into Chicago one weekend. It went a little something like this: "I need to change my lane/before I go insane/change my lane/go insane/change my lane/go insane." It's amazing the creativity that oozes out of a road-weary, sun-baked brain.

Somewhere amidst the windmill strewn red dirt hills of Oklahoma, I decided I'm going to sing to my mom. I don't think she's ever had a song written about her, which is a tragedy, because she is definitely an epic, songworthy woman. And, singing spontaneously about the little things, "I'm getting you a glass of water, whether or not you think I oughta" could be kinda fun, and is, in fact, my specialty in songwriting. Melodic nonsongs. If that fails to be fun and cheerful, I brought fingerpaints and play-doh with me.

On a more serious note, how much more poetic would a lifetime of apologies be if it were sung as a ballad? Let's all admit it, we snicker at musicals, because they're really kind of cheesy, but somewhere deep in my heart, I wish the world were in sync enough that people would just bust out with "Lean on Me" in line in the grocery store. I FEEL like I live a musical, because of all the music that accompanies me in my head. So maybe, for one part of one day, I'll live a musical with my mom.

Time for bed, as I'm getting back in the car tomorrow morning to take my brother and sister-in-law and niece to the airport. It's good to be here.