Serendipity

Our morning view in North Carolina

Alright, I'm sure you're wondering if I was on overdrive at the conference or something, what with the pictures of my over-stuffed van, new blog posts appearing every day, culminating in photos of me plucking feathers off a dead chicken. If it makes you feel any better, I'm wondering what's up with me, too. And if I find out, I'll be sure to let you know.

Here are the facts:

1. The over-stuffed van was from our camping trip to Jesus-Land the Cornerstone Festival. Our van was NOT that full on our way to NC. I repeat - Jonathan did NOT have to breathe through plastic tubing because he was buried under 115 lb. suitcases. This time.


2. I wrote all those blog posts before leaving for our trip, and scheduled them to post one each day. I repeat - I was blogging when I should have been packing.


3. My sister - aka the President of the Corporation (ya ya) - made me pluck feathers off dead chickens. Alright, so she didn't make me; but you know how it is, when someone uses that tone of voice that says something entirely different from the actual words they're speaking? "We're having a plucking party. You don't have to come, but you're invited. There's a lot of work to be done. But only if you want. Feel free to come on over. If you can." I read ya, I read ya.


4. I've finally quelled my gag reflex, and no, the food at the conference didn't help any.

So we're back from our kick-*ss road trip to North Carolina. The drive was beeeeautiful - Jonathan exclaimed, more than once, "I want to LIVE in Tennessee!" - and the conference was... well... life-changing. But if you're going to ask us what Asheville, NC is like, don't bother; we just whizzed right on by. We've traveled a lot this summer and we're .flat.broke. so we didn't build in any extra vacation time on the front or back of the trip like we usually do. I didn't think it was the end of the world.... until....

The author of one of my all-time favorite blogs, 37 days, recently published a book titled Life is a Verb. The premise of her blog and book is answering the question, "What would you be doing today if you only had 37 days to live?" as that's what happened to her step-father - he died 37 days after being diagnosed with lung cancer.

She did a count-down to her book's publication, publishing one reader essay on her blog each day for 37 days. She chose my essay for.... Day One! The final day of the count-down! I was beyond flattered.

But here's a nasty little rub... the author lives in Asheville, North Carolina...!!!! I could've stalked met her! AND, I could've shown up unannounced met her on the day my essay came out! How cool would that have been? All the way cool! Alas, I didn't even know I was within miles of her home until I returned. Rats rats double-rats!

Ah well, the news came at just the right moment. I was wallowing in post-conference pity, that I was no longer surrounded by vibrant unschoolers and was back in, well, a cornfield. (I know, I know) I was having one of those "I look fat in all my photos" kind of moments when I opened the email from Patti, telling me to take a look-see.

Ah, I love the way the universe works! Nothing like a good ol' dope slap upside the head!

Go get yourself one of Patti's books. Your life depends on it. Yes, really. Now Go!