Bill

     I took a road trip to Louisiana and I'm not a big fan of driving. Seven + hours, so  I plotted a route along state highways (as opposed to interstates) because I also don't like high speeds and I prefer to stop along the way to see the towns, ville's and burgs and wonder how and why they were established. On this trip, I also tried to puzzle out why they were still there. I explored a few Mississippi Delta towns - Leland, Greenwood and Marks. I know the Blues originated there, and by the looks of the abandoned buildings or dwellings that shouldn't have had people living in them but obviously did, they have a whole lot more to be blue about.

Marks, Mississippi

There were unexpected sights as well. Driving through Europa, MS, as I crested a hill, I saw a cross so enormous I blurted out, "Jesus Christ!" That may not have been the reaction whoever put it up was going for, but there you have it. 

     To help with any anxiety about driving on the way down, I issued a fatwa on the news and just listened to 60's and 70's music. Side note: I rarely listen to music. It worked. I drove part of the way on the Natchez Trace Parkway, a beautiful 444 mile long national parkway that was perfect for loud singing and the occasional juke and head nod. It was perfect because it's so isolated and no one should be subjected to seeing my stunning lack of rhythm, even driving by.  

     The purpose of the road trip was to visit Bill, who I've known since we were four. I called and we compared our safety protocols, always masked up, minimal contact with people outside of our bubble, lots of hand washing and sanitizing so we decided a visit was okay, as long as we continued to be safe. Our lives have some remarkable intersections; Kwajalein, college in Texas, road trips to Mexico, grad school in Hawaii, teaching on outer islands in the Marshalls and visits to Thailand where he lived for 20 years, to name but a few. Despite the many similarities in life, we are very different people.

     We've had a long standing disagreement over the word zori. For the record, zori is both singular and plural. Bill calls them zoris. The spellcheck in blogspot auto corrected zoris to loris btw. Shortly after my arrival, he said, "Let's go take a walk to see the horses." I replied, "Let me get my zori." His response? "Better bring both of them, it's kind of muddy over there." And we're off! We laughed and laughed and laughed, sometimes over past misadventures, other times over our views of life. Bill is a Luddite and revels in the simplicities of life. He still writes letters and uses a paper map when he travels. He boils water in the morning to pour over his ground coffee in a carafe.

Coffee maker. 

I love technology and convenience. I'm looking forward to the new iPhone, love Apple CarPlay in our car and a Keurig is the only way to go first thing in the morning. Bill loves nature and hiking in remote places, I think the outdoors is over rated and am happiest in a city or town where I can walk to a store and buy what I need. When Bill's dad died last year, he gave him his iPhone (6s, 16 gb) and told him to use the damn thing. Bill had resisted getting a smart phone because, well, he's Bill. We laughed about that some more. My Siri has a female Indian voice and calls me Honey. He doesn't call his Siri, he says it's Ian and his has a male South African voice. We're different, and that's okay. We spent time noodling around on ukulele and guitar, singing old songs, laughing and reflecting on getting older. Old people issues. On a road trip to Arkansas, I asked Bill how his hearing was. Because we know each other so well, he asked, "You didn't hear what I just said, did you?" I said, "Well, I heard bits and pieces," and then recounted what I thought he had said. He said, "I'll speak up when I'm driving." Cue more laughter. Both of us are very grateful to have made it to 60 because so many of our family members and friends didn't make it to that milestone. There was so much more (much of it unpublishable) but we ended with this. Bill is more Bill than ever and I'm more me than ever. We are both completely predictable and completely happy and at peace with who we are and where we are in life. And that's a joyful thing.

Worth the trip.