my day

josh wanted to take metro in.
aside from the fact that he totally loves
trains of any sort, he pulled out his ipod
and showed me the big red lines that showed
traffic was gonna suck.

nah, wanna drive.
was my response.

he showed me the big red lines again.
i stopped and looked.

'wow. that means traffic jams in all those
places??' i asked.

'yeah,' he answered. sure he had swayed me.

'wow. well, noah's driving, we'll get gas,
and the worst that happens is we get locked
in the car with each other for a longer time.
i'm cool with that and it's MY birthday. we
drive.'

i grinned and we all got in the car.
i loved it.
usually i spend a lot of time making sure
everyone is happy.

not then. i knew everyone was willing to just
do whatever........and i was gonna grab that.
it truly is a rare thing for me to grab...and
i wanted it.

what josh didn't really know was i wanted to be
in the car with the guys and drive thru the city.
they bike down there all the time with their dad.
they spend so much time in the city and are getting
to know it from a biker's point of view. and i don't
get to see that happen. they're with their dad for
that. so i wanted to hear about it.

and sure enough, as we drove they'd point things out
to me.

'we were just here on our bikes yesterday' they'd say
and point to some place.

'really? you were all the way over here?'

and then they'd tell me about a trip they took over
there and over here and oh yeah, we've been there.

i loved it. turns out traffic was a total breeze.
couldn't have been better. except for just before the
zoo. then it was packed and slow. no problem. i was
lookin' at the shops, and people. and pointing things
out to the guys. we joked, listened to crazy testosterone
music and i loved every second of it.

as we pulled into the zoo, zakk reads the great big
sign all lit up 'all parking lots full.'

he read it out loud with a dramatic voice.
sure that this is gonna stir trouble up in the car
and grinnin' about it.

we turned in as you kinda had to and i just calmly said
'oh well, guess that doesn't work. let's go somewhere
else.'

i was as calm as calm could be.

josh's eyes bugged out. he was just a little stressed.
maybe being cooped up in the back seat of the mustang
behind noah and his long legs got to him a bit. maybe
he was still wishin' we had taken metro. whatever it
was, his eyes bugged out.

'what???'

i turned to look at him.
grinned at him.

'josh, didn't you know?
while i really would like to go to the zoo, and i have
been thinking about it for years...didn't you know?
all i want to do today is be.
just be.
i want to be with you guys.
i want to be happy.
and i want to not worry about time or getting anywhere.
it makes absolutely no difference as long as we're
all together'

i was completely and totally peaceful and happy.
it was a rare and wonderful feeling.

i could see him relax.

oh.

and he really did see.

this had nothing to do with the zoo.

noah seemed to know the whole time. he totally
went with the flow. never blinked. seemed to
know what was gonna happen.

and zakk, he just always figures it's gonna be
weird no matter what and he flows with it all.

noah was pulling out at this point and gonna head
back the way we came.

'oh let's go a different way,' i said.
and he turned in the opposite direction.

'let's see what's down here.'

and we wandered.

we ended up driving thru a rich section where the
houses took your breath away. we drove all around
picking favorite houses and checking everything out.
deciding we'd really be okay living in that neighborhood.
talkin' about how to get rich. dreamin'.

we joked about the old woman driver who really shouldn't
have been driving, then joked about noah's driving when
he hit a curb. zakk combined the two...the old woman and
noah and we all laughed.....

we all joked about our visit to the zoo and what i'd tell
bob. 'oh it was great, one of our best visits yet. wasn't
tired at all and just so relaxed.'

noah was tryin to figure out how to get to the highway.
you can't go wrong, yo, i told him.
that's the beauty of today.
who cares where you go!

sure enough, he found his way.

we drove thru the 'hood' as josh calls it.......
we saw the difference in living situations. talked about
that.

and it all made me appreciate what i had so much.
both the rich houses and the not rich.
i felt so lucky. i had the world.

we stopped to grab some coffee smoothie things and
sit and eat a loaf of bread. we goofed and slurpped
and hung out.

and it couldn't have been better.

we drove home, watched a movie, rode bikes, got
chinese food, goofed with the guitar and laughed
a whole lot.

we did nothing extraordinary....and yet it was one
of the most extraordinary days i could have ever
asked for.

it was perfect. all i wanted to do was be with the
guys.....and they were all there with me the whole
darn day...and havin' fun.

how totally amazing is that???