7,000 Exits

A couple of weeks ago, I went out of town for a conference. It was a great experience and I learned a lot while also making some new friends and contacts.

Now, this was the first time that I have ever left Kiera for this long. Sure, she has spent the night a handful of times with family but we are talking one night. I was gone for 4 nights. I didn’t have any doubts she would be fine. Kiera and Aaron had quite a bit of fun, but the thought of me not kissing her goodnight or going in to pray for her just about tore me up.

I made daily notes for her before I left and Aaron gave them to her each morning after she woke up. At night and sometimes during the day, we would facetime and visit about the day. Aaron always made sure I was able to say goodnight before she went to bed.

In fact, that’s actually how I met, Emily, one of my new friends from the conference. It was the first day. I had checked in to my room and was video chatting with Aaron and Kiera as I walked towards the elevator to head to the 1st floor.

“Mom! Please, please, please video the elevator as you go down! I want to see it.” Kiera pleaded.

I laughed before agreeing. As I walked up to the elevator bank, I noticed another young lady waiting to go down. We did the standard, “How are you’s?” as we waited for the elevator. As the elevator ticked its way to us, I decided I had better give her a heads up on what I was planning to do.

“Just so you know, I am going to video riding down the elevator and send it to my 8-year old daughter.” I explained nonchalantly as if it was a normal everyday thing. I waited for her response, wondering exactly how it would go.

“Ahh! That is so cool!” She responded.

We stepped on and I videoed my descent. Kiera was quick to respond.

“That is my favorite kind of elevator!” She exclaimed excitedly. “The doors open on both sides!”

Laughing, I quickly messaged her back, telling her I loved her, before heading into my first session.

There were a few interesting times on the trip… of course, if you know me well, you know I usually don’t have very many dull moments.

The first was actually on the trip down. I don’t drive on roads that have more than two lanes on each side. I can drive on the interstate… wide open interstate, not the kind where you drive into Austin and there are 4,000 different lanes with 7,000 different exit options. I tend to stress at that stage.

As I got closer to the Austin area, which I did thankfully manage to go around, my GPS began to feed me directions. At this point, I am looking at 3 lanes with 3,000 signs above each lane, naming off the exits. I gripped the wheel tighter and tried to remember to breathe as a semi flew by me.

Suddenly my GPS chimed in. “Follow the right three lanes to continue on to blah, blah, blah.”

I’m not proud to say, I lost it at that precise moment. “RIGHT THREE LANES?” I yelled, shooting a glare at my navigation screen. “THERE ARE ONLY THREE LANES!!”

Amazingly enough, my GPS did not reply and we continued on our way. Once I finally turned off to the hotel, I was able to breathe a sigh of relief. Ok… truthfully, I didn’t actually breathe a sigh of relief until I put the car in park.

I’ll be honest. The trip back was not as scary. Probably because I had managed to freak myself out on the trip down, not knowing what to expect in the way of driving.

Well, there was the moment when I accidentally swiped a curb on the way out of the resort, scratching the sidewall of my tire. A nice gentleman stopped, examined the tire and assured me that I would be good to proceed home. But, let’s not talk about that right now.

Stay tuned next week to hear the rest of the story.

Rowonna McNeely works as the Communications Manager for the Brownwood Area Chamber of Commerce. She and her husband, Aaron are regular volunteers in the community, and have their hands full with their daughter, Kiera, along with three dogs and one cat.

Thank you for sharing in our weekly journeys. If you have missed any of our past stories, check out our blog page at www.lifea2k.net or drop us a line at lifea2k@yahoo.com.