Country Road, Take Me Home, To The Place I Belong... On The Road Again

Antietam/this week

Not a single filter has been applied to any of these photos.

Country road, take me home, to the place I belong.

I did not grow up listening to country music.  In fact, my parents both did not like country music, and that is putting it politely.  I don't know why I like country music against the odds; it is something that is all mine.  

Sure, I have lived and traveled around this country and have seen sea to shining sea, but if it comes to the options of a sunny beach vacation or a mountain retreat, I'll be coming around the mountain when I come.  The vast spaces, the earth sounds of a forest, the sound of wind moving through ancient, historic, or untouched parts of the land, and the musical instruments that echo these sentiments all feel like home to me.

When I start feeling stir crazy, and/or the hustle and bustle all becomes too much for me, I find myself fleeing to vast spaces, Dolly Parton and friends blasting.  There's something about the experience of a long drive on an open road surrounded by vastness that heals me.  And Dolly certainly grew up with these same teachers of music and sound.

New Paltz, NY/October '18

Perhaps it is the type of company I keep, but I find that most of the people I know have some sort of desire to travel.  Wanderlust has been my constant companion, but sometimes I think it is more than that.  In fact, earlier this week I wasn't feeling well at work and the people who sit around me were all chatting the afternoon away, so I finished my work and left a little early and headed to the open road for some consolation.  On this drive is when I started thinking about all of this.

Stonington, CT/Thanksgiving '18

As you probably know if you follow me on social media, I am often taking small trips all around.  This winter, I've been to Connecticut, San Diego, Colorado, Arizona, and Los Angeles.  It can oftentimes feel hectic with one thing right after the other; the days are long and the months are short.

Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, CO/December '18

Inevitably, things eventually settle down, and I stay put for a few months.  Most people experience post-vacation blues, but I often think that it is something deeper with me.  A sinking depression sinks in, and I find myself having the symptoms of going stir-crazy without realizing the cause of it.  I'll get truly depressed and apathetic, and won't know why I am feeling this way.  

It happens every year, and you'd think that I'd see it coming and find a way to stop the train before it reaches the station.

Oatman, AZ/December '18

But I don't stop the train in time, and then I find myself pounding on the door of an unlocked cage.  It won't be long until I find myself driving on 70-West waiting for The Road and The Mountains and Dolly Parton to tell me where the car is headed.

North East, MD/late summer '18

It helps me to think of what a gift waking up in the morning is.  Some people never leave their house and are perfectly content; some people never leave their house because they can't.  

The things I have seen with my own eyeballs in my not-exactly-short life so far are things some people can only dream of.  Even the mundane days of driving to work (45 minutes on 695 each way), or the days working at the cat shelter or one of my many other volunteer jobs, these days are all gifts.  

San Diego, CA/November '18

Sometimes I lose focus of the grand picture, and upon realizing this, I will find myself marching to my car to find a vast space upon which to set my gaze.  

To be perfectly honest, I think my subconscious is the one grabbing the keys and marching me to the car, knowing that there is a lesson that needs to be learned and that I subconsciously know where to find it, in the absence of actual travel.

Glen Burnie, MD/this week

I spend most of my days/months/years feeling lost for some reason, and sometimes it takes wandering off to get found again.  It doesn't help the blues, but it does help me get my perspective back in place.

Let's do a road trip with this blasting, y'all:

It is Yes and Amen.

Send me funny memes please thanks.

Receiving, Writing, Luxury, Washington

Receiving Guests

One thing that always bothers me about sitcoms and other TV shows is that people are always so put together, sitting in their house. Like, people just answer their doors to unexpected guests, and they have pants on and makeup and their hair is good, and they are ready to receive guests. I've been thinking about this an abnormal amount lately.
Listen, if you bust into my house without giving me A LOT of notice, I am not going to be ready to receive.

I've been thinking, there is never going to be a time in my life where I am just sitting around my house on a lazy afternoon wearing full makeup and clothes as though I could easily be attire-ready for a nice dinner out on the town.

Well I am happy to report that I just successfully passed this test. I was sitting here writing the dreaded Maryland Archery Guide, and then someone knocked at my door. As a rule, I don't answer my door - If I'm not expecting anyone, and the knocker is being overly persistent, I just call my neighbor across the street to see if he needs to come chase them away. 

So I peaked out the window and saw that it was my new neighbor, and I actually was show-ready to greet him.  

My house was even in decent order to receive guests.
 

I think God knew that this was the only time this was going to happen, and I was ready to appreciate it.

Writing

When you have a talent for something that you actually like to do, and then you HAVE to do that thing, and it becomes work, things tend to come to an abrupt halt. Refer to the story behind Sara Bareilles' "Love Song." That is why there have not been blogs. The archery guide just drains me. And, life has been a little challenging lately, so, that also drains ya.  

This balance between enjoying something, and it then becoming work, is something we all go through. I know it happens to me a lot, with archery especially. I know lots of people can even relate to that. We like archery, but when we have to do work to support the Maryland Archery cause, it becomes work and not play very quickly. I have to make an effort to balance it out, otherwise I'll lose interest in the sport. I know you know what I am talking about.

Life of Luxury

Do you ever just take count of the things you have, and just enjoy?  

I do. I have the cutest house, filled with every perfect thing. I just love it. Not long ago, I was on the phone with my sister, and I probably said something about feeling guilty for doing nothing that day, and she said something I really needed to hear:

"You know what? You go to work, and spend most of your week just trying to make enough money to afford the things in your house, and afford heat and water and everything, so.... enjoy it. There is no guilt in just enjoying what you have built."

I love that, and I think about it all the time. Don't get me wrong: I have absolutely nothing of worth - I don't own any fancy jewelry, or any fancy electronics, or anything like that.  My house is filled with mostly yard sale finds and stuff people have given to me over these  years.  

My house was broken into a couple of years ago, (you may remember) and not only did he get the only couple of valuable things that I owned, but he also taught me not to own anything valuable.  It's okay, it is well with my soul. So now I can just look at, for example, the loveseat that was given to me by my dear friend in almost-new condition, and just appreciate that I have it.

So, someone I know is getting a new house, and needs new house stuff.  There is nothing that will make you take inventory more efficiently than this situation.  Of course, I am able to contribute a lot, but the thought process is so funny.  For example, I sorted out some mugs and glasses for them, but at the end, this is my cup cabinet, and I NEED EVERY SINGLE ONE.

If you pair this with my previous mention of needing all of the things and all of the stuff, I think we may have just fully disclosed that I am a borderline hoarder.  I think that on some level, we all are. I cannot be the only person who would see this in the store:

And stand there trying to justify the purchase of every single one of these.  Maybe it' a Libra thing. 

Washington

So, spring has sprung!! How are you feeling about this spring and summer? Do you have plans?  

I am super excited to announce my upcoming trip to Washington State. I am going to be spending a week here (click to be directed.) You are so jealous. I am going to play with the cows and mini donkey all day every day whilst skipping through mountainous glory.

Okay then. Enjoy your life and your things and 

be grateful and kind.

NFAA Nationals / I can make the bad guys good for a weekend / Wildest Dreams

As a quick follow up from the last blog entry, I wanted to thank those of you who read the last entry and did not write me off.  Some people did write me off - that's okay - I factored that into my calculations.  One person even wrote: 

“I had to sit down and read this a couple of times, because my first reaction was anger, tinged with a bit of confused disappointment.  Then I remembered who you are, and realized that this probably warranted closer examination.”  

So, thanks for hearing me out, and understanding that I wasn’t just going off of the deep end.

I want to thank those who came forward to me and had open discussions, either agreeing with my thoughts, or contradicting them.  It was enjoyable to have the discussion, whether over e-mail or over coffee, and very informative to talk to everyone and share perspectives.  It's definitely a sore spot for many, and our experiences are individual and unique - no one can claim to know exactly what it feels like to walk another's path.

Moving on!...

So, it is basically impossible for me to write blogs when I am visiting with people, and that’s all I’ve been doing lately, so, I would apologize for the delay between entries, but I’ve been having too much fun.

This past week I was at National Field Archery Association (NFAA) Nationals.  It was a ton of fun, in a masochistic way. 

Our schedules were, every day:

-          Wake up at 4:30 AM

-          Breakfast by 5:30 AM

-          Leave house at 6:00 AM

-          Drive to range, get there by 6:45 AM

-          Practice 7-7:45 AM

-          Begin archery, archery from 8:00 – 2:30 PM

-          Walk around and gather the people (a.k.a. herding cats) and put equipment away and drink alcohol 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM

-          Find sustenance for our cells 3:30 PM – 4:30

-          Go to Wegman’s 4:30 – 5:30 PM

-          Be back at the house so Larry can go to bed by 6:30 PM

-          Log in and work for a few hours, then go to bed early.

Every day for a week.

It was glorious. 

But by the third morning of waking up at 4:30 AM, I was grumpy.  By the end each day, we’ve walked for 8 hour straight, in a forest whilst carrying 20 – 30 lbs of equipment in the summer heat.  It’s very exhausting.  But we got to see friends from around the country, and make new friends.

 Side note, “Ghosts” from the BD soundtrack just came on Pandora.  Don’t. It will put you in a mood. 

Met lots of cool people, shot with some people I’ll know forever.  (I shot with two miners... like actual miners...) Really, really, to my heart awesome times.

A guy I was shooting with brought a sandwich for me! He loves me.

The best ice cream place! Teaberry ice cream!!

One evening, I was particularly spent, and just wanted to take a shower and sit in bed with a hoodie over my head and watch Breaking Dawn 1&2.  Well, Sue was bored, because Larry went to bed at 6, so she comes into my bedroom, and sits on the bed and tries watching it with me.  But she kept asking all history, and then kept asking what was going to happen.  “So wait, now the wolves are going to kill the baby?!”  “They are going to kill Bella.”  “No no no no, wait…”   OMG.  I.   CAN’T.   I told her I wasn’t going to explain the previous 5 movies to her, and I wasn’t going to tell her everything that was about to happen.  She got mad and left.  Bye Felicia.

Another evening, Larry wanted to go back to the range after Wegman’s because he wanted to work out some problem with his bow.  Sue and I were zero percent interested in going back to the range, so we started heading back to our house. (BTW, we did Air B&B for the week – it was awesome!  You should let me send you an invite so that I get a referral credit for when you are traveling next.) 

Behind Wegman’s is a creek which looks beautiful and very inviting, and every day I crossed the bridge, and wondered if anyone would care if I just parked and jumped in.  When we crossed the bridge after Larry went back to the range, I noticed that there were folks floating down the creek in tubes.  I said, “I want to go tubing!!”  Alas, due to our strict schedule, tubing was not a likely possibility.

However, 15 minutes or so later, when we were almost back at our house, there were two guys carrying tubes walking down the road towards the creek that runs by our house.  So, I pulled up next to them, and said, “Hello.  We are not from the area, and I see all of these people going tubing… how do we go tubing?... Is there someplace we can go… or….”  And so this guy says, “Oh… well, I have two more tubes up at my house… do you want to come with?”  So I said, “Sure!” And told him to get in my car.

So we go to this guy’s house (we’ll refer to him as Brandon, and his friend as John.) and let it be noted that I was not going to go inside, except that Sue then said, “I have to pee, where’s your bathroom?”  SUE!!!!  TVW. 

So now we are in this total stranger’s house, waiting for the neighbor to call us back.  We needed to use the neighbor’s air compressor to inflate the other two tubes, and so we had to wait for him to finish whatever it was he was working on before we could go over.  

While we were waiting, Brandon was being very adorable, apologizing for the wait, and offering us beer, as if we were the ones who were being inconvenienced.  While we were waiting, Brandon said, “Do you want to see something neat?” And brought us into his living room, which housed a giant tank, which housed a crocodile.

A crocodile.

An actual baby crocodile.

I am allergic to three things: Sharks, alligators, and crocodiles. 
UPDATE: Kate just sent me an urgent e-mail:

"You are allergic to 4 things. You forgot bears."

So I said to Brandon, “Umm… that’s… you should not have this crocodile… that’s not a thing… that’s not…good…”  And then he showed us the special gloves that they have to use to handle the crocodile, since “she’s not very friendly, doesn’t much like to be handled.”  I told him, “Yeah, that’s because it’s a crocodile.”  Then, he finally said that it’s not his crocodile; it’s his roommate’s, and that roommate is moving out in a few days.  I said, “Whew, because I’m trying to gauge your crazy, and it was not looking good.”  He said he knows it’s crazy to have a crocodile – it’s not his.   I told him that it’s not cool to have a demon dinosaur in your house.  It will eat you in your sleep.

Anyway, finally we got the tubes inflated and then walked to the creek and hopped in, and it was amazing and beautiful.  It was the perfect day for it – the weather was beautiful.  Some folks passed us in kayaks, and said to Sue and me, “Why are you in jeans?!”  And Sue told them that it was an impulse decision, and we didn’t have other clothes! (We just went exactly how we were dressed for archery that day.) 

After about an hour, when we got to the swimming hole where we hopped out of the creek, Brandon climbed up a rock cliff area and jumped into the water, so, naturally, I yelled at him to get back here and show me how to do that.  So, I went and jumped off the cliff, too.  It was lots of fun, except that when I was climbing out of the water, I fell (of course) and smashed my hand on a sharp rock in the water, and was bleeding everywhere.  Fortunately, it was not the hand I hold the bow with, (a.k.a. “my bow hand,”) so it wasn’t a big deal over the following days – I just wrapped my hand and it didn’t affect my shooting.

Then we had quite the hike back to Brandon’s house, which was a lovely walk through a cemetery and other people’s lawns.  (The neighbors didn’t care – they waved.)  It was a very wonderful and memorable experience.  Brandon and John invited us to go home and change and come back for burgers and beer that night, however, we were already out past curfew, and we had to do laundry.  Brandon offered that we could use his washing machine, but alas, we had the curfew.  ;-)  The rest of this story can be summed up in some Taylor Swift songs, so I’ll leave that to the imagination.

I shot the best I have ever shot during the competition, and I beat a lot of the guys.  Next year’s Nationals are taking place in Darrington, Washington, so I am looking forward to that.  I was going to quit after this year’s Nationals*, but when they mentioned that next year’s Nationals are in a state I love, now I have to wait until next year to quit*.

*I’m basically kidding – I say I am quitting every other week.  It’s a running joke amongst archers.

What is your passion?  Do you have a hobby?  Besides things like your family and your job, what is it that you are passionate about?

Yesterday, I went for coffee with one of my friends, and I said that I have a question for him, and jokingly, he said, “Is it ‘what is the meaning of life?’” And I said, “Oh no, I already know that.”  And he asked what it is.  I told him, “I can’t tell you.  That’s part of the deal – once you figure it out, you can’t tell anyone.  Everyone has to discover it on their own.”  It’s like Fight Club.  Once you know about it, you can’t talk about it. 

Is that a question you struggle with?  Do you feel incomplete?  Maybe we should have coffee and talk.  Text me!  

South Carolina Trip and Other Shenanigans

I feel like we have not talked in FOREVER!!!

Since I have so many things to tell you, I’ll just have to tell you in small doses, since I don’t want to overwhelm you, and because I have a hot date in a couple of hours.

I have two happy things to report.

Number one, I have finished writing the MD Archery Guide!  Hoorayyy!!  I was staying at work till 9 PM 4 nights a week the past few weeks to write the darn thing.  (Okay, sometimes I left at 8.)  (And sometimes I went to happy hour and had a few beers, and then came back to work, so hopefully that made for an interesting guide.)

Number two, I changed desks at work, so now I am so far away from chewing and clicking.  It is wonderful.  Others are envious and sometimes just come and stand at my desk, because they are going through withdrawal.  And I get lots of e-mails.

12:34 PM  Colleague

hello

if you're interested in hearing food being chewed

please drop by 

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Miglin, Veronica 

Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2015 11:44 AM

To: Same Colleague

Subject: Hello.

Do you want to join Leo and me for lunch at Brio?  We are leaving in like 15.  Hello.

From: Same Colleague 

Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2015 11:45 AM

To: Miglin, Veronica 

Subject: RE: Hello.

No, I’m poor.

And I want to listen to food get macerated here.

Hello.

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also the temp that used to be here misses me, too.  Sometimes he just IMs me random yelling.  They all have a weird way of showing it, but the boys miss me when I am no longer available.

9:45 AM Temp

Ugh [[ new temp ]]  got an internet posting of his arrival

I ONLY GET A WELCOME BREAKFAST

you guys really rolled out the red carpet huh

9:46 AM Miglin, Veronica

You are ridiculous

9:46 AM Temp

I see how it is

9:47 AM Miglin, Veronica

you are lucky you got a welcome breakfast

I don’t think he got a welcome breakfast

9:47 AM Temp

On my first day, I got asked if my family was in the Salem witch trials.

I hope you know I’m kidding.

My bagel was delicious.

9:49 AM Miglin, Veronica

btw, WERE your ancestors in the Salem witch trials?

9:49 AM Temp

We’re done here

9:49 AM Miglin, Veronica

still never got a solid answer on that

I went to South Carolina.

I saw on my handy-dandy custom-made-by-Kake calendar that Melissa’s birthday was coming up, and so I asked her what she was doing for her birthday.  She said she was watching TV and working.  Realizing that this was a milestone birthday, I found this to be completely unacceptable, so I rounded up some Maryland folks, and we went down to South Carolina to surprise her.  It went off really well, and it was really awesome of the other Maryland folks to take the time/money to fly down to see her, and to The Boyfriend for helping coordinate. 

Kate and I drove down from Maryland.  It took about 10 hours and it was a beautiful drive, complete with a stop at The Apple House and a beautiful sunset.

Not to mention, a definite vocal workout due to having Pandora set to Disney songs for 6 hours straight. 

It turned out that all of us, the drivers and the flyers, arrived at the same time.  Kake and I picked up the friends from the airport and went right to Melissa’s and it was awesome.  We went out to dinner, and had a great visit.

  

Kake and I did some exploring while we were there, and ran into a little town that has my alias’s namesake.  

We found a park called Paris Mountain, and did some light hiking.  And selfie-ing.

 As we were driving down Paris Mountain, repeatedly singing “Colors of the Wind,” (naturally,) there was a very Kate & Veronica moment.  We were mid-word in the song, (I believe it was right after, “how high does the sycamore grow, if you cut it down, then you’ll never know, and you’ll nev…..”) and we both turned into Twilight vampires when at the same exact moment, we both caught a waft of a campfire fire. 

Then we laughed and we laughed and we laughed.

When Melissa got off of work, we went out for dinner and I will bless your eyes with the sights of our food, you're welcome

Definetly a better way to spend your birthday than on the sofa watching TV.

And then we finished the evening by playing a bunch of rounds of Cards Against Humanity, which btw is hilarious.  I believe Kate went home and ordered her own set immediately.

I will say that the popcorn game is real in South Carolina.  They have a couple of popcorn stores who sell every flavor of popcorn you can think of: watermelon, sour cream & chive, jalapeno, cotton candy, birthday cake, and on and on.  I walked away with some pizza popcorn, and it made the boys at work very happy.

It was a very nice little weekend road trip, fueled by the largest cups of coffee Sheetz sold.  I think we each had a cup of coffee in our hands all of the waking hours.  Well, coffee or beer.  You know how it goes.

Here’s my conclusion:

I do not want to move to Greenville, South Carolina.  There are lots of reasons, but it’s enough that there is no alcohol served on Sundays.  

It's okay for a short visit, but we were ready to get back to Maryland.

The ride home was just as beautiful, paired with hours of praise and worship and Britney Spears and Disney.   Alas, home is where the Smidgen is. This land feels like home to me.

So does Washington State.  And a few other places.  But not SC.    

I have not received your text messages, and I am sorry.

I don't know how long this has been going on, but my suspcian is that it has been at least a month and a half.  My phone has been receiving about half of the messages that people have sent to me.  I am so mad about it that I just want to scream and punch things.  I also am missing calls, and people are being sent directly to voicemail.

I tried to do a hard reset while I was in South Carolina, because I was missing important texts from the people I was with in SC.  

So, I lost all of my contacts, for naught, as it were, because it did not help at all.  I just got a ton of text message notifications at the same time that said this:

I am allegedly getting the replacement phone in the mail today, and my hope and prayer is that all of the messages that I have not received are still alive in cyberspace, and they will all be delivered to my new phone.  I know it won't happen, but I can dream.  After all, I am now on bad terms with a lot of people, and it's possible that it is all over not having received some important communications.  

Therefore, if you have sent me a text in the past two months, and I did not respond, it's because I never got your message.  Please try again.  

On the ride back, Kake and I discovered that this song should be my Tinder tagline.

Btw, as Melissa's birthday present, I reactivated my Tinder, and let her play on it for a while.  NEVER AGAIN.  :-x

But there will be more Tinder episodes on this blog in the future, based off of your feedback of wanting more.  :-)

Until next time... take care of yourself.  <3