Running Away

 

 

I decided to run away.  I was crawling through "The Valley", 100 degrees on the Ventura fwy (The 101 for those in-the-know) with all the outbound Labor Day weekend traffic.  I was going to run away to the beach.  I'd just go straight there.  No stopping.  Stay there for hours.  Maybe until dark.  Maybe forever.

 Yup.  Just keep heading west until I hit sand.  That's what I would do.  No cell phone reception at the beach.  I'd choose a lonely beach too.  That's what I would do.

 S.Cal. traffic gives you a lot of time to think.  I'd already listened to NPR for more than an hour and it started over again.  What if I did just go?

 Oh yeah, that kid would be waiting for me at 3... and the kidnappers are out and about this week.  Maybe I could stop and change my clothes and go "run" at the beach.  OK, maybe that would work.  I'll run at the beach...miles and miles.  I'll walk into the water until the waves touch the hem of my shorts.  I'll watch for dolphins.  But traffic was still crawling.

 OK, maybe I'll wait and then I'LL kidnap Thanny and we'll both go to the beach.  The dog needs me to come home and let him out anyway.  Ya, that's what a cool mom would do.  But, what about that other kid?  He needs to be picked up an hour and a half later.

 And then Thanny's back-to-school "dance" is 30 minutes after that... and then I think an hour later Davis will ask me to drive him to the football game...and then an hour later Thanny's dance is over (it's 7th grade after all.)

 I finally got home, let the dog out, and sat down to look at old pictures of the beach.  I'm not very good at running away.

And now it's time to go pick up a kid.