Dear God,  You s who removes how me, what you will from the east to the west what you want.  You plunge me in deep humility and truth at your beckon call.  It is you Lord I long to listen to in my heart .  It is you who sends me to the ends of the universe and back.  I cannot hide, I don't run, and it is you who removes me, sends me, and woos me painfully sometimes.

The bitter cold you send me to rise above this season on warm white clouds of your loves treason. No bag to full or suitcase to deep to prepare the Lords keep.  Still I stand with all I can in your commands.

I'd like to make you into a real story.  The setting Indiana. The character is dad.  He is retiring.  Mom who is working from home.  The conflict is that Fiori their oldest daughter would like to have been there throught the years of the fast paced aging and time portal of brutal forgetfulness and she couldn't tell anyone that she was ready for the suckage of time and the unfairness of life.  She cried and cried and crie some more for her life and her childrens lives.  The dream of peace is dangerous." Spurgeon.

Story, if I could get these characters on the page it would be a miracle.  Line by line I dream to be on the heaven side of the choices made. Story you can be so beautiful and yet far from reaching and I just want something beautiful to touch me. 



Story: that old rugged cross. How can you get me there.

Love,
broken eye

Short Short Poem
A Daughter Mother Perspective:  Please cleave me to the old rugged cross.



The ever changing tempertures of Indiana over the four seasons kept Abby close to moms good ideas of hats, coats, scarves, and boots in the winter and bathing suits in the summer.  Grow up girl.
Trying to imagine who her mother was outside of her own values of her mother: her deep concern that drove her to tears, swearing, and utter despair drove her out of her own beliefs, her own values of work, relationships, and health back under the roof she once lived under playing with dolls, boys, and building up walls.  Maybe it was time to repair bridges, smooth out the ridges and soften the heart. Grow up girl.  The more Abby had and seen the less she gave and showed it seemed to her. 

"Take out the trash."

"Dad usually does it."

"Make your bed."

"I'm going to get in it in tonight, what difference does it make?"

Afterall it was mother who wasn't kicking her out.  Abby saw mother working full time.  It made her part time life feel out of line.  The loss of friends, and boyfriends were immeasurable. The pain expressed through a long journey to seek God brought a disquieted little Abby into a hunter of faith. There was nothing more that she rather do than to explore, and never say do I have to as dishes and sinks were shines every day.  Abby gave up the city life of meeting new people, writing poetry at coffee shops, and living with a young man to live at home with her mom and dad.

Afterall mother held her hand in the hospital bed after late night of quicksand.  Mother brought food, clothes, friends, and family under Abby's nose when it was so high it sheltered prayer, and life for everyone.  Then God.  Mother changed her bandages, and put on the ointments over the wounds.  Mother stayed up for nights while Abby cried in pain and was lost and confused puffing up her daughters pillow under her sweet young and pretty head.  Mother tucked her little daughters feet under thick warm blankets of fleece instead.

All the years of long silences, and bitter tears brought mother to the front lines of a daughters devasting fears.

"embrace your fears my daughter."

  Abbys stretched life and health came from mother and fathers rooftop and stealth of Christianity.  Short shorts and black concert tee shirts, cigarettes, and Carmeron Diaz movies identified teenage Abby.  She loved concerts of classic rock, never missing Irish rock band U2 when they came to Chicago.  Admiring her sisters talent for painting, and keeping a clean room helped her to build ideas that defeated her fears.  Coming down to the kitchen late, flat ironing her hair, and hiding as much as she could of herself brought the image of social gossip that glued her down and pressured Abby into
becoming a misfit for a season.

Crashing her dads truck, raising up costs in college with failed classes, procrastination, and hesitation
layed a foundation of money troubles for Abby and her sister who looked up to her. 

What a mother would give for a daughter in need, take heed, and see faithfully a mothers perspective of grace and a daughters gratuity when she takes heart, courage, and strength to be the woman God called.

Ten Years Later

That old rugged cross.

Today in Indiana the old man comes out and looks around too long.  I mean I have to get a move on with my life. The man inside of me is long dead and gone and grouped memories blossom around me a cloud of comfort and warmth. Chocolate hurts my stomach, the mixed eggs and salted meat retain my sodium levels.

The only lovely figure left is that of my sisters, Anita.  Charming flowery memories purk and twurk the jelly in my belly.  Advice: to move out of my own way.  life is easy.  It really is.

The long gray eyed man staring back at me my grandpa.  He is no longer with us yet in memory he sends a message I don't deserve.  Amessage to buffer and love me through his stories and ceviche.
Jewels of the war, precious gems.  Thank you Jesus for another year to live better in your presence.

Love
Broken eye

Things Said and Done

It was 6pm Thursday just hours before Friday would be welcoming a quiet weekend.  The late evening brings on the summary of the days events,things said and done. The radio was off all day, and Harolds laundry was finally complete.  He had folded the last sock before the sun began to set.  Chicago was charming and the next few hours with Hannah were particularly unpredictable.

Hannah made her last phone call to her priority phone list, and began to doze off to the sound of Harolds pacing footsteps and chatty worries about his worries of his health.  Normally he was a easy going athlete until about a month ago when he came back from a ten day vacation from China.  Being in the large city of Beijing, and returning to his studio and cubicle brought on no surprise to the acute vertigo and anxiety his doctor diagnosed.

There was no computer, no television, not a ounce of media for eight hours in an empty office space with a few long trips to the storage space several blocks down Addison Street.  It was utter chaos to turn a world upside down in just a few hours.  But even Harold could handle smoothing out the wreckage of understaffed companies with his youth and virtures.

     
One pressure of a thought, a risk of flying into the night is where love lives.  Pushing buttons till they burst, we are creatures of thirst.  Trust in Him.  I will trust in Him as long as today is today.  Obey today ryhmes making it easy to please thee.  Say something, anything.  I can waste time etching away at the surface of my heart pretending we aren't deep in the dark.  I can pretend to the end going on and on in oblivion so say something, anything.  Your words mean everything.

Zero Tolerance

When you miss a flight that has connections and are put on stand by be ready to be on stand by if you are switching planes as well.  Airtran usually has only two flights a day I heard from someone so the third flight although all seats were filled up for the day brought my hopes up that I wouldn't be waiting in the terminal all day and then tomorrow on stand by.

My mom gave me her credit card, and dad gave me $50.00 cash.  I bought lunch and souvenirs with the cash and just held the credit card for emergencies.  I sat in Atlanta Georgia for 6 hours and read my Bible studying the NT between lunch when my sister called to inform me that she and Allen her boyfriend bought me a 100-150 dollar ticket on Southwest Airlines to Chicago. 

The flight picked us up at 7:00pm and I didn't have to wait until 9:20p another 5 hours when the 5:00pm connection flight was full.  I ate a taco, with chips and dialed phone numbers from different spiritual programs that I am involved in.  There is a feeling of restlessness and cold moods since it is a place of just coming and going on the clock.  I found some warmth and comfort in the Olympics game on the large flat screens in the bars with cute names.

I didn't sit in the bar but near the windows along the terminal seats and waited in prayer. My fear subsides greatly in watching little kids with their mothers, and fathers as it reminded me of my family together and being with a group.  The cold bouts of being by myself fizzled when I began planning what I could do with the credit card in my pocket if the weather delayed flights, or I needed to get a hotel room.  Thank God for the credit card and mom who permitted me to have it.

Maybe I was in tears from being up from 3a to 7p on  the plane home from Atlanta Georgias connection to Chicago Midway Airport.  Maybe it was overwhelming thankfulness that I was going home.  There is a big difference when you don't travel with groups and when you do.  Not even the best plans and resources kept me strong after missing my flight at 6am.  I talked to Dave and we read Psalms 103.  We walked an Epilepsy Race in Chicago this summer and played Monopoly a few times.  He called a few times during the week while I stayed on the island and was very funny and nice.  He lifted my spirits during all the coming and going with dinners and activities with my family.  Everyone during the trip the whole time was partnered up and I wasn't and it does take a toll on your buddy up system.

I learned so much the whole time like no bonfires on the beach.  Removing linens off beds before leaving, and how much people care when you feel in the dumps.  When I got into Chicago I felt depressed about being back and wanted to go back.  I was looking at all the flights out to other locations and thinking of the credit card in my pocket and what it would be like to start over letting the imagination run a little amok.  First flight that popped up on the monitor was Las Vegas. 

After the frenzy of dreams passed I quickly went to get a snack and then sat at the bus station exhausted and tired from the long day of the miss your flight domino effect.  The comfort of charging my phone, drinking lots of water, napping, and reading kept me tamed.  Yet at the end of the day I was anxious to get home.  The lady in Crestwood IL would not take my credit card since it needed to be signed by the owner which was my mother and so I waited 5 more hours at the bus terminal for the 11:50p bus to pick me up.  Between those hours I read the NT and prayed a little more. 

The gas station across the street had an ATM but mom spent an hour on the phone gettting a password for the credit card and then texted it to me.  I was getting more drained and thought I was going to pass out but I trully believe the Holy Spirit was moving me because I wasn't afraid but vigilant and I bought a few kids a pack of cigarettes and they helped me carry a 24 case of bottled water over to the bus station.  Mom called and talked to the cashier there and ordered the next bus to come and I waited not relying on my ex-boyfriend to pick me up.

Both the bus and the ex showed up at the same time and I took the ride with my ex and got my $30.00 refund for the bus going to Indiana.  I heard while I was leaving, "Senorita! Senorita! Your water bottles!"  After seeing this nice friend shouting at me that way, it felt like an old western movie ending and I answered that way and said, "OH, just throw them away!"  Thats the kind of answer I imagine after a long day of enduring hardship after hardship May West would say.

Its funny though in the car its after you spend time apart that your ex looks nice and acts nice and I thought nice car and then I remembered something,  that it had been a long day and I was happy to be going where I needed to go at the moment.

The End 

"Yesterday All My Troubles Seem So Faraway"  The Beatles

I woke up at 3 am in Pensacola Beach, FL in a townhouse on the Gulf of Mexico.  My parents and I had planned my early morning flight back to Chicago all week while we basked under the sun on white sands and shopped and eat.  I enjoyed the double chocolate dipped sugar cones with a scoop of peach yogurt while my sister and mother shopped for gifts for friends.

Evaluations were habitual sometimes unnoticed yet folded neatly in authorities pockets.  Daily fissures clean and sutured.  Wounds unmeasured and finally left unfeathered.  The unclosed wounds that last until the night, into the daylight, and through the light.  A healing tree of giving, a tree living freely, ever so freely.

The morning was dark and I hadn't had much sleep sleeping in the front room near the balcony windows to look out unto the ocean as I did each morning during our stay.  My mom helped me pack my bag, my dad got the car ready and we headed out to make a long story short.  I cleaned out my purse of all liquids which are not allowed on planes, I had my drivers license, and one carry on bag.

The airport is very small on Pensacola Beach FL and my mom printed out my flight information at the kiosk inside with me.  I am usually one to want to do things on my own and call if I have any questions so the help of my parents felt very intense especially at 4am.  We saw fishers along our way to the airport, and there was a good feeling that brushed up against me when I left the island as if that was the islands way of saying good bye and thanks from coming.

My plane was to leave at 6am.  I haven't been to an airport in a while and didn't know what the heck I was doing.  After my parents left me, I didn't say good bye to my dad when he said good bye and didn't really see my mom leave either.  I went into a shop that was open and viewed all the books and magazines.  I bought a hat that said Pensacola on it and went into the next shop for a cup of joe.

It was a very good cup of joe and the girl put hazelnut into the cup.  She did something out of the ordinary and I caught it.  She was going to change the cup entirely just to add hazelnut flavoring.  When I asked her why she had to do that she asked if I needed to add room for cream and sugar.  Fuzzy and groggily I noticed I wasn't my chipper self and grunted no its fine.

Here is an important detail:  I walked to the check in point after purchasing my coffee and the man on post said no drinks after this point.  I felt that coming.  I then decided to just go back into the coffee shop and finish the cup of coffee there.  I had an hour before take off.  Before that though, the customer in line behind me felt to close for comfort.  And I couldn't get a thank you out of me I was so compromised by time, the flight, and coffee which tasted delicious. Feeling a little wrong for not throwing out the cup of joe and just going to my gate number and wait for boarding, I took my coffee and sat down to read from the NT.  I noticed my reading was clear as day and I was feeling consumed by the scriptures.  I still kept my eyes on the clock and at twenty minutes to boarding I got up and went to check in my bag and pass through security.

The clock was ticking,  mom texted me to get moving.  She said you have five minutes to get on that plane and I was still in the coffee shop.  I really don't even want to write this feeling the pressure that rocks are going to get thrown at my head for my choices here.  It gets better.  Ten minutes later I decide to go and check in after she told me five minutes.  I hear them call my name twice with two other names that boarding is starting.

Assuming I'd whiz right through check in, they stop my finding a cork screw opener that I didn't see sooner in my side pocket in my purse.  I told them I was going to be late.  I needed to hurry.  I felt my head going but my body just standing in one place.  I knew they wouldn't care that I missed my flight and so I just smiled and waited while my brain was racing ahead of me.

I ran fast as soon as they let me go to the gate and everything was closed up.  I was mortified.  It was 6am and the plan had taken off ten minutes ago. There was an 11am flight coming that was over crowded and they put me on standby.  From 6a to 10a I shopped around looking at books and magazines and ate fish and chips.  My head was foggy and I was frazzled from being alone and missing my flight at 6am.

Dad gave me $50.00 and half was spent already on souvenirs and food.  I tried to pray and nothing was coming out of me.  I couldn't relax.  I couldn't sleep.  I was the only one at the gate until 9am and so I read further in the NT in the KJV.  It was so clear the message, and I really knew the holy ghost was with me.  I could hear the airline lady at her computer chipper and sharp talking to guests around 9am to 10 am.

I began to get squirrely maybe mousey, when I thought I seen someone I knew and it wasn't them, a young couple.  I thought the man was my sisters friends brother.  Clearly it wasn't and it was too late to keep walking when he noticed that I noticed him and thats why I hid.  Mostly because I became intimidated by the woman he was with and I would most of my male friends girl friends.  My brain wouldn't turn off. She started coming closer to me and I couldn't find my center fast enough and she had to step over my bag because I didn't move it for her because I was so distracted by chaos and panic.

Yet i moved it earlier for her partner to pardon myself away from these strangers. Couples are weird sometimes.  They just move like electric eels ready to zap you kindly yet with a sting.  I began to hide behind the book stands from them because I didn't want to scare them and yet they were just getting closer and closer to me.  Conversations started to work my nerves and I couldn't even sit down when I felt I was being summoned by young gentleman eating their meals around me so I started playing musical chairs all around the food stop.

I could barely sit down before 10am came along and my moms texts were out of control.  I was falling asleep on my food so I just got up and went and ate on the computer desk and waited for the airline stewardess.  She never came on time so I moved to another table to sit down and finish my fish and chips.

Conversations around me grew louder and so I called my Aunt Elida and told her everything that was going on.  I went back to sit down and waited.  I got up and used the bathroom. I finally got my standby seat after I went to sit down and read some more around a crowd of senior citizens.  I thought for sure for this reason our plane would go down but then I heard the cooing of a baby.

Part 1-2

Think Think Think


There is a story I hope to show here the best I can.  I promised I would show it if I got out of the bind I was in.  I was coming from an early morning interview a last minute spontaneous job interview.  I was prepared the best I could be and was planning afterward to go to show apartments up north in Chicago which I enjoy.

Usually I make it with a fourth of a tank just in time to gas up.  Yet this trip up north turned upside down when my car died on Lake Shore Drive in hyde Park.  It was a monster of a morning as I thought about what steps to take next and what amount of timing as my smooth drive to the north side was interrupted.

It was over 90 degrees as I walked and gathered information about the nearest bank, gas station, and taxi service from runners, bystanders at bus stops, and students walking to class.  As much as I wanted to rely on the GPS and internet service I had on my Android it was just too hot and the sun was very bright which darkened my little screen.

So I plan to make this quick and short.  A young man with a gas container on his way to the gas station offered to give me the tool when he was done using it to fill his lawn mower.  I was desparate, half panicked, and in a hurry.  I drifted into other ideas of my own as I floated down strange yet lovely neighborhoods of Hyde Park to reach my bank, and get money for gas and a taxi to get back to the car before it was towed.

I wasn't happy.  I wanted to be happy and embrace the fear, and trials before me but I couldn't be without doing all I could to keep from fainting.  I didn't prepare for this. I didn't call the normal people I would have called because they were all at work in far off places.  What prompted me to write this story was for others who have been or may be in this kind of danger and a very expensive on at that.

My car wasn't towed, and the young man with the gas tank didn't give work out since my cell phone died.  I used the resources I new best from my everyday usage such as drinking lots of water, having a cup of the banks coffee to relax while sitting down to collect myself for a minute. My advice is never be afraid to ask questions more than three times if its the same one espeicially if it involves directions, time, your life, and getting it right.  Secondly, don't go anywhere without cash.  Thirdly, where the proper clothes and shoes wherever you go if you don't want to be blistered, bloody, and soar of feet. 

The override of panic and the pain of the mistake will pass in time, so be strong and keep smiling and God will see you through it all to the end.  The taxi cab came and that costed $20.00.  The gas and gasc ontainer costed together $10.00.  Another piece of advice is that while you are in the taxi cab take 100% control because my cab driver was on the phone, the radio was up, and the back tv was on and with all the noise we took a long detour which cab drivers love!  Passengers do not!  More money in there pocket and more out of yours and there goes your cup of coffee and side of veggies for lunch.

I did it.  I prayed, singed, laughed, smiled, and still the loss of money, time, and choices is lost.  I dealt with it and live to share the story for others to learn from and pray it never happens to them.  There is nothing like running back and forth in 90 degree heat with a gas container, hopping a wired fence on Lake Shore Drive to fill your gas tank before you spend 300 dollars picking it up from a tow company in another place of wonder and mystery. 

If thrill is what you want, I recommend not doing it to yourself by forgetting cash, gas, and taking a road trip to work when you know your best cousin that you are dying to see is in town.  Nevermind.  Get the drift?  Don't be a drifter.  Obey your shepard.

From the Heart

Hands held high hold hearts of pie.
The circling lives of you and I ready to focus on the incredulous guy.
As I'm brought back to you while everyone is pointing at me; I celebrate
the moments we are so insync I hope you see.

There is no person, place, or thing on earth that can part us.
How easy it is to be clobbered, hammered, and booed having
you and I stuck like glue.  Truely, when I know the row of life
is no show, I'm happy to be the one you love. free


Whistling heaters, hot summers, lovely days, and no end.
If you can hear me through the trite words of a blog, abide in me, as I abide in thee.
Frozen tears crystalize my minds fears, melting time away from the pain.
Gifts to you, gifts to me, all eternal words mostly.

Your coffee tastes of cardboard.
Cold, damp, with not a place to go.
Day after day, no measure of time can relief permanently.
My past robbing my present, love remains reverent.

Muscle! Muscle! Muscle!

The health advice and fitness challenges are in every newspaper, book, magazine, and gym.  The basic information of fruits and vegetables to working 30 minutes 3 times a week are always around.  They bring me back to the drawing board every day.  Yet even the most repeated instructions cannot be taken literally.  For years I've eaten according to an article or worked out from advice and have quit to use the energy and motivation gained from the goals of health and fitness for the priorities that needed the umph working out and eating right gave me.

And the cycle is back but I've been lately pushing through new waves of focus and determination committing all the right corrections to my health and fitness goals.  Moving forward has never felt better even the smallest moves such as a ten minute run and spending more time on long walks has been better for everyone.  After spending six long hard months changing my eating habits and committing to 40-60 minutes of any kind of cardio three times a week after ten years in just a short span of time, I don't want to let go of this work and its rewards and nothing not even a pay check will get in the way.  I thank the Lord for these last six months because everyone will have there time and whether this is my time or not faith without works is dead.

For example,  all that sitting around and reading about health and fitness worked out in its timing.  Much patience, and endurance came about from days and nights of egg white omlettes dressed in vegetables to weeks of egg white smoothies and still I'm struggling with the long bouts of sitting in the car to watching movies which do not balance much of the work outs I'm doing that involve keeping those long desk hours at work sitting from making you sick.

Then there are the carbohydrates that are recommended to come from vegetables which I cannot grasp in all my hard work.

Thanks for listening and good health to everyone.

Kathy Reyna

Whats There to Write About? A Little on College.

This morning I woke up with the usually check of how I'm feeling mentally and phyically.  Being in college, going away to school is a change of environment.  People.  Coming from the norm of your home is a huge change from the campus of a college.  Coming and going in any amount of time can be very challenging for family and friends. 

There is no changes that will be understood by anyone and the sooner you understand, comfort, and give the faster and easier the adaption of the college experience will become.  Then and only then will you endure the long days of diving into note taking, booking reading, paper writing, study group cooperation, test taking, and the growth spurts of getting involved with the journey of college.

The weather is cold in the winters and hot all the other time of the season. The food and time clock is there so its just like being at home.  There are normal routine of chores just like living at home except you do them and not your parents such as taking the garbage out.  And washing your linens and clothes for 2.00-4.00 in the laundry mat. 

The computers and cafeterias are open all day long.  The night life is yours to do the right thing for example you can go out and party a little or alot during finals or the night before a test or you can chose to study a little or a lot its your call.  The grades are not determined upon what your roommate is doing with their time or what your study group is doing it is up to you to make your grade.  There is the pressures of work and school and play so everyone has there own path to climb through these very crucial times as they please. 

The history of campuses will provide the roots of the college spirit.  You will see the walks of many students past, present, and the alumni will take you under their wing or they will be happy to take a clipping to your wings for you.  The warmth of professors, classmates, and administration is there.  You'll probably see canoodlers holding hands going from class to class because I was one of them.

You may like the sport groups who cram in together in the back of the class room exhausted by the long yards they ran the night before.  Or you may want to sit a table of actors and musicians in which I wish I would have spent more time with since today I desire to be an actor and its a struggle.  Ride your bike, use up alot of meal points, visit the pubs and restaurants instead of sitting in watching movies all day long and studying all at once.  Make a balance to get a little done each week and there is so much talk about being a leader but its ok to be a follower too.  I was both and moved into different things slowly but get excited and take it easy.

Your parents miss you too.  They want to do everything to help you succeed and believe that they are doing all they can because they are and so is the campus structure.  Bring yourself and watch the unfolding of your new habits take place.  Change is mandatory in college and comes with fun and honor because everyone around you will send that ora of change. Thousands of students all around you are paving their way with the tools, resources, and dreams also.  You will learn the rest of your life that the more you do today the easier in the long run it will be for you to be where you desire and need to be.  Trust yourself, and build a give yourself a chance always.

Coming Home So Late

Rough draft


The whole year getting to bed early has been a very good thing.  Yesterday I came home late and went to bed around 12am.  I felt tired on the train.  The late night shift workers were all on the train and looked pretty exahusted also.  I hid my head between the seat and the window and went to sleep.  It reminded me of when I would go to bed late in the past and take the train. 

Last night was another one of those late trips home.  I don't bother anymore fighting to prevent these things from happening like letting the day slip away when work is slow and the bank account is empty.  When taking risks at this point in life is the only way.  Holding on to the cold dark winter night before it breaks you in two.

I felt the soreness burning in my back.  The stress from the shift of problems with no fast resolve in mind. Coming home so late has never been more better.  Just like clock work, another cash loan, another early train ride stretched to midnight, and an unpracticed and unplanned opportunity again.  Another risk.  Risk after risk.  How far do you take such a road? 

The next day comes and it feels just right in all the right moments: 7 hours of sleep, a shower, a smile in the morning instead of the unrelaxed frown that comes from a choice of reasons.  The perfect breakfast, cup of coffee, and a hot shower.  Sitting waiting was the most uncomfortable part during the job interview.  The whole store in front of you.  A job applicant who just read the most important questions and prayer for wisdom.

The interview was too much something.  What was it?  Could it have been the pressure of first impressions, a loss for words, or too many words?  The end of the day after all the clammer of ideas is soothed with some television and blogging the urge of unrest pangs the night.  What else is there to do but wait on the Lord.  There is the treadmill, a letter to write, State of the Union to watch, or to continue the risks of job scouring on the web.nly t

In conclusion, there is no conclusion.

Truly He is my Rock and my Salvation! My mighty rock! My salvation!  Do not put vain hope in stolen goods.  Psalms 62

o my strong tower, my refuge, LORD, on my bed I remember you, I sing in the shadow of your wings, Psalms 63

A Chapter in a Weight Loss Journey

It was a late Friday night in north Chicago in early January.  Patty was sure there would be snow on the ground by Christmas yet the snow didn't come.  It was the sound of the fresh coffee brewing in her and her boyfriend Darrels apartmen that stirred up the beginning of an unplanned weekend.  Temperatures were dropping to 20 degrees and mixtures of rain and slush began to fall from a bright gray sky.

The call came in from Tony, Pattys father leaving a message around 4pm that her grandfather had passed away. Patty packed just a pair of sweatpants and a coat and left first thing Saturday morning from Darrels sponge mattress and loud squeaky apartment of steam heaters and old wood floors.  Shuffling through the plastic container of snacks for the 16 hour drive to Houston Texas, Patty felt alert and very serious about what was inside. 

She spotted out some  apples, meat sticks, wheat bagels, and a pound of turkey from the deli.  Good choices of snacks for a long road of sitting in the car.  Then there were the horrendous corn chips.  There were no red grapes.  No vegetables.  This made Patty furious.  She didn't say anything about it to her mom or dad as they kept on eye on the map and one eye on the road.

The gas station stops were the place of sugary and salty snacks.  In Missouri after passing the beautiful Mississippi River Patty noticed sadly that she didn't bring her jump rope.  She wanted to jump rope at the best chances she could get.  She planned to jump rope behind the gas station or along side the car while her dad pumped the gas.

She stayed clear of the toffee bar and the slishies.  The walk through the aisles were frightening as the candy grew more and more colorful and sweeter.  Slowing down through each aisle the potato chips had new shapes and flavors such as mild lime and BBQ spices, and the twisty twirling corn chips were in a shape of a tiny flute with a lot of zest and more powdery cheese flavors to eye on the shelve.

Grabbing the largest bag of pretzels as fast as she could through all the amazing bags of snack chips and chewy and twisty candies Pattys dad said here, look over here."

He handed her a smaller bag of the same pretzels and she felt relieved since it was a good portion sized bag that she battled to find though the main rows of all gas station goodies.  The roads were clear of traffic, and the weather was clear of rain.  The first day of the trip to Houston was