One of these is not like the other…. Look closely.
This is a quilt my step-grandma made. She has some Amish in her family. Apparently, it is common among the Amish to incorporate imperfections into their handiwork, so as not to presume one can be as perfect as God. They try to make sure their work is imperfect to keep themselves humble.
And perhaps it’s also symbolic of a recognition that the little imperfections are what make our lives interesting and beautiful.
It was a long drive across the whole state. It rained for the first 5 hours. There were lots of cars considering it was Christmas day, lots of ambulances, police cars, and tow trucks because cars kept losing traction and sliding off the road (or into other cars).
Many times I went over parts of the road where water was deep and I could tell that my wheels weren’t on the road, and if I moved the steering wheel a hair my car might get thrown when the tires hit again. But I’m a road warrior and I fought the battle to the end, even after the rain went away and was replaced by thick fog, snow, and ice in the mountains. (Trees covered in ice!)
Driving this kind of trip is one big act of Faith, the attitude that no matter what happens, it will be okay. Even death. You have to consider death. It was always right there beside me, all that was needed was for someone else to lose control of their car—something that could happen so easily with just a twitch of a muscle or a brief lapse of attention.
It’s really wild to think about it. But it’s all about having Faith, and I’m not talking about religion.
It also helped that I had music: I listened to every Beatles LP in chronological order through the white album. I pulled into the driveway as “Good Night” was ending. Perfect.
Not that anyone besides me cares, but both record stores in Athens lost 20 points today for:
a.) not having any Megadeth records on CD or vinyl (whilst being impressively stocked with Metallica); and
b.) spelling Megadeth incorrectly as “Megadeath” on the little divider things.
(I’ve considered the possibility that they spelled Megadeth incorrectly just to piss off Megadeth fans, in which case they lose double the points. -40, assholes.)
I guess that’s what Muddy Waters invented the electric guitar for.
If you think that your god cares at all whether you call the day of December 25th by the name “Christmas,” “xmas”, or “cmas”, if you think your god cares at all if your team wins the Super Bowl, if you think your god follows the politics of your nation and feels strongly in one direction, if you think your god cares what women wear on their bodies (or how anyone dresses), if you think your god cares what people do in their own bedrooms, if you think your god cares what music people listen to, if you think your god cares about the bumper stickers and fishes on your car…
you must have a very low opinion of your god.
In fact, that doesn’t sound like a god at all…it sounds like, well, you.
Holiday Drive #4: Athens, GA to Edisto Beach, SC.
Miles: 249
Drive time: 5 hours, 56 minutes
…and after this it’s back to Athens again (another 6 hours & 250 miles) to resume life as normal. I sure as hell hope my car can handle all this. I estimate I will spend over $400 in gas by the time it’s all over.
Holiday Drive #3: Brevard, NC back to Athens, GA.
Miles: 123
Drive time: 2 hours, 54 minutes
This one’s not so bad, but I’m only coming back home to work one shift at work that I couldn’t get out of before I have to go somewhere else…
Also, it’s really weird how Athens does not even have a label on Google’s maps. It doesn’t matter how close you zoom in, there is no Athens. There’s an Athens, TN, as you can see at the top right. There’s Lawrenceville, Commerce, Watkinsville, Winder, Washington (all close to Athens but much smaller) but there is NO Athens. The city has a fucking beltway for fuck’s sake! and you can see it on the goddamned map!
