Joy

My mother’s suffered for me. An often violent marriage with five children to support, followed by divorce after we all grew up. She’s been alone since then, afraid to open her heart and trust another man. I wish I could fix her broken bits, but she continues to slowly fall apart.

She’s yearned for a life fulfilled, but can’t seem to grasp the gold ring. In the last months, even good health slips through her fingers as her 76^th birthday ran like sand through the hourglass.

I called my siblings. “We must do something for mom now.” And the push and pull of different opinions threatened to derail a satisfactory conclusion.

“Break it down to something she loves,” I harp at them. Her family, her church, the Chicago Cubs and Bears, Mickey Mouse. Her list is very small.

The path is illuminated. I haven’t seen my Texas brother in ten years or my Florida brother for 8. “Let’s take mom to Disney World in Florida.”

A Christmas miracle occurs. Not one sibling bails. The Texas brother gets military tickets to the parks, the Illinois brother uses his time-share hours for lodging. I pay for mom’s airplane ticket, and the others create a kiddy for food and incidentals.

Christmas day, she opens our wrapped gift containing a Disney guide book, and the promise of great adventures. She’s blown away with happiness, crying with delight. We’ve given her the greatest gift—her family reunited, spending time with her, and a heart held in perfect balance.

http://grantourismotravels.com/2010/12/14/grantourismo-travel-blogging-competition-december/
http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/?icid=IL_Redirects_IB_T_Text_None_LEXT_all

Entry for travel blogging competition

Journey With A Married Man--part 3

Grand Canyon Continued--Where are the Indians on horseback?

The married couple set the alarm clock for 4:30 a.m. so they could photograph the Grand Canyon at sunrise at Lippan Point. The temperature was 16 degrees--without the wind chill--so they spent the next hour running between the beauty at the canyon edge and the warm car. When the sun reached the river, far below, it was time to get breakfast. They've just finished and are contemplating where to go next.

"Would you like to walk down into the canyon and get closer to the river?" She balances a map across her knees, scanning the trails because she's positive they will miss something important.

"Are you nuts? I'm not walking down there. " His foot pushes the gas pedal to the floor as they leave the parking lot.

She refolds the map, sticking it back into her bag. "What would you like to do then? We have a full day."

"Let's drive to the end, take pictures at a few scenic overlooks. Maybe we can leave here early."

Here we go again, She thinks, What is it that makes him want to speed up vacations and not slow them down? It's always a race to 'get done' rather than relax and enjoy. She sees the sign to turn for the Indian ruins. "Would you want to stop at the historic Indian settlement?"

"Nope." The word is dragged out over several seconds, implying a great depth of feeling.

She's been married long enough to know he wouldn't want to stop. He hates history and culture, which of course she adores. On previous vacations he'd walk her to a museum and sit outside talking with local people, even if they didn't speak English and he didn't speak Spanish or French. He'd just talk louder, assuming volume was an instrument of interpretation.

Sometimes he'd drop her off and go find an internet cafe to search...to search...for unknown things.

Now, far away from internet connection, he stops at two overlooks and with their individual cameras' they click away, probably taking the same shots. They drive onwards, heading west.

Her mind is still on that darn Indian ruin she really wants to see. "Shouldn't we stop at the historic Indian settlement back down the road?"

"Nope." He drives past the next pullout, hoping she won't notice but of course she does.

"Hey!" You past one!" She points her thumb back over her shoulder. "What's the deal, buckaroo?"

"We really don't need to see them all." His voice is dripping with authority.

"Don't!" she points a forefinger in his direction. "Don't start."

"Okay, okay." He pulls into the next scenic overlook and they both take pictures again.

When they get back in the car, she asks, " If we never come back here again, shouldn't we really see that Indian settlement? "

Now he's laughing. "The only way I'll stop there is if the Indians are on horseback with bows and flaming arrows on one side of the road and the army is on the other side blowing the settlement up with dynamite."

Too bad it was a peaceful, sunny day at the Grand Canyon.

Journey With A Married Man--part 2

The Grand Canyon

It's a big hole in the ground

Scene opens with the married couple walking in the afternoon sun along the south rim trail. They've been walking and taking pictures for approximately 30 minutes on the first of two days.

He asks, "How far do we have to walk?"

She looks at him, a baffled look pasted on her face."What? You don't want to walk this trail and take in this spectacular view?"

He shrugs."It's all the same--big hole in the ground." She's speechless, mouth hanging open, so he continues,"The Bears game is on." A pained look flows through his eyes.

She laughs out loud without a trace of humor."Let me get this straight: You've just spent hundreds of dollars to come here on vacation and you want to go to the hotel room to watch a football game?"

He tries another tack he hopes will gather more sympathy."My feet are tired."

She doesn't fall for it but tries placing the blame on the resort."We can't check-in for another hour.You seem to forget we don't have a room yet." They walk on. She answers the question she knows is scratching like rodents in his brain, "No.The bar does not have a TV here."

The tension seems to drain from his body as he mentally agrees to continue walking."Can you imagine the first explorers' seeing this place for the first time?" His arms swing in a circle to encompass the view below. "They must have said something like: Holy Shit! How in the hell are we going to get across this?"

She said,"I'm not sure the first explorers' were hellbent on getting from point 'A' to point 'B' in the quickest amount of time. My guess is they actually enjoyed discoveries during the journey."

He nods his head, chewing the thought."I think they had a big argument about turning right or turning left."

She laughs,greatly amused."Well one thing is for certain--they didn't stop to ask for directions!"

Journey With A Married Man--part 1

The scene opens with a married couple driving from Vegas to the Grand Canyon. They recently picked up a rental car from the airport.

She's scanning the horizon ahead while he drives. "Is this the Hoover dam?"

He's negotiating heavy traffic with campers and pedestrians, impatiently dodging around vehicles like a pinball on the loose."Yep." He swings the vehicle into the oncoming lane, skirting elderly tourists walking into the roadway, eager for the Kodak moment.

"Can we stop? I'd like to see it." She's been married long enough to know the conversation just entered dangerous waters.

His fingers grasp the steering wheel in a death grip; his eyes never leave the road. "Why? You've seen dams' before. Seen one--seen them all."

"Yeah, but this one is the largest of dams and the canyon is supposed to be beautiful." She rolls down the rental car window after grabbing the camera from her purse. She's been married long enough to know most pictures on this trip will be taken at 60 mph. and has become proficient at high speed photography.

He exhales loudly in frustration. "Awwwhh! Come on! It's too soon to stop."

She bristles, "What does that mean, exactly? Are we on some timetable I don't know about?"

"No, but we just got into the car." He zips quickly by an open parking lot.

"Is there some law that states one can't stop to see tourist destinations on vacation unless one has developed a cramp in their butt from sitting too long?" She's irritated.

"Well? Yeah. It's a guys' law. Besides, dams' aren't all that interesting.

"So that means my opinion doesn't count?" Her eyes scan ahead for the next pull-out in their direction of travel. She's been married long enough to know he won't cross traffic lanes--ever.

He stares straight ahead, silent, and zooms past another parking lot.

She glances at him, trying to give him 'the look', but he ignores her. "There! On the right. See? There's another place to pullout."

The vehicle picks up speed as he quickly drives past.

A few silent moments later, she softly says, "I mean it. I want you to stop at the next pullout so I can take a few lousy pictures. I'm not asking you to go on the one hour tour; I'm asking for a few minutes.

"Can't you just buy a postcard?" He's been married long enough to know he's being a donkey, but he loves to push buttons to the limit. She remains as still as a statue, looking forward, frozen in neutrality.

He turns into the next parking lot."Go get your picture. I'll wait here." The car remains running; his fingers remain on the wheel, ready to efficiently pick up time when she returns.

Lands Beyond the Sea

Torn from her loving family, seventeen year-old Sarah is locked in shackles on the Neva, a female prison ship, for deportation and the eight-month journey to the Australian penal colony. An innocent victim of the 1835 land clearances in Scotland, she faces dark squalor on the ship, and later at the womens' prison in Tasmania. Wit and willpower are her weapons for survival.

Sarah uses herbal medicine and midwifery skills,learned from hre mother, to heal the broken in body and spirit. Her gentleness and compassion wins respect, and the Neva's captain allows her shore time to get supplies at exotic markets in the Canary Islands, Rio, and Cape Town South Africa.

Danger mounts with gale force winds, mountainous seas, and shipwreck on a deserted island, but people drawn into her life provide the greatest challenge. James Griffen, a handsome buccaneer awakens passion within her, as his ship follows the Neva around the world, and a buxom madam manipulates her companions, forming a prostitution gang. Sarah's morals are challenged; she questions lust, love, greed, power, and even murder as the journey progresses.

This is an epic saga, of Sarah's passage from naive girl into a strong woman, as she takes control of her destiny in a final leap of blind faith, for trust and love, justice and freedom.