5:15 July 12 Friday

Goodness it’s been a hot minute since I’ve updated this blog.

And I love the fact that I’m starting on a 5. I love even numbers but I love 5s when it comes to time.

My brain should be melting, and it kind of is, but perseverance must prevail. We’ve got a deadline for volume three of the maritime magazine this weekend. I have THE simplest edits to apply but my brain just can’t seem to focus. I’m currently figuring out how to address attributions of two persons with a last name in a story. But I keep going over to stupid socials. So, I thought I should come here and brain dump.

My SUP busted this week – a hole in a seam – and I tried to fix it. Well, I attempted to fix it but I have not blow it back up yet to see if the fix will hold. I have a second SUP coming next week because I REALLY want J to go paddleboarding with me. It’s such a nice refreshing forced break from staring at a screen, for work or for pleasure or for addiction. We don’t get to the mountains like in our previous lives and we live in a damn water town so to me it makes sense to allow ourselves the easiest possible access to the water. I’m not a swimmer for sport, and I’m not comfortable skippering a sailboat (like the little 16-footer we have in our yard) but give me a paddle and the board and a nice warm night, and everything melts away.

Usually I reserve these 15 Minute sessions for when I’m trying to warm up my writing brain – I guess I’m trying to do the same here to get over the edge into editing brain. I keep thinking to myself, the more I do now, the less I have to do tomorrow.

Then again, I ALSO understand that I can be WAY more productive first thing in the morning vs. trying to struggle-bus it over the course of an evening. I spent most evenings this week working on something related to PT Maritime, whether it was editing other stories or pushing through mine (though, my copy editor said she really liked my story that I feel is weak, so, SHEW).

While I have a love/hate relationship with FB memories that pop up daily (Look at my old gardens! Look at my old adventures! Look how small P was!), one of today’s inspired the quick planning of a Midwest road trip for next month. I HOPE/PLAN/EXPECT to visit Ohio – just need to buy the damn plane ticket, that’s always the biggest hurdle, seeing the cost and hitting “purchase” – and then whisk away my sister and nephew on a little road trip to snag some United States highpoints – an excuse to adventure with my nephew that I hope we continue for a long time. It’s a great way to explore new areas, create a sense of adventure, and maybe relive/pass along some of those roadtrip memories that my mom and grandmother created for my sister and me.

We didn’t have big vacations growing up except for the occasional trip to Hilton Head to stay at a friend’s condo or visit family in Texas – but my grandmother loved to travel. I distinctly remember being excited because we were driving from Cincinnati to a town in Michigan to visit the world’s largest Christmas decoration store (very much my mother’s idea probably). Even MORE so, we popped by the Canadian border so I could say I’d been to another country. So I recall. I may need to revisit the journal for those details. The store may have been in Canada actually. But I remember being VERY excited about crossing a border and setting my foot on the ground in another country, despite the United States probably only being a half-mile behind me.

Anyway I just need to get the green light from my sister (PLEASE KATE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE) so I can rent a car, stuff it full of my sister, Nipote, snacks, music and sunglasses, as we rip out of Columbus with the windows down and into that sweet sweet humid Midwest air and August sun.

5:29 p.m.