Smiling Coasts, Open Minds

The Honda Odyssey went to a new home. I hope, sincerely, that it will love it there, and start faithfully with nary a hitch for its new proprietor. As for Jeff, I could see that same little wistful cloud hovering about him as the transaction was enacted--the cloud that signaled another face-to-face with the fact that he really will not drive anymore. But...with the van’s absence from the driveway will come, I hope, limited cause to even think about it much.

Meanwhile, another piece fell into place in the possible-trip-to-The Gambia sequence. Gabe’s passport--the one which he could ostensibly get without parental permission and that will be good for 10 years because he’s 16--arrived today. Yes. Nothing on the application requesting parental signoff. No indication from the post office lady who took the application, photos, and checks, that anything was missing. But still the Passport Office held his app, with a letter noting that it would be processed pending a copy of an i.d. and signoff from me. Naturally I obliged, with the requisite grumble that I’d have been happy to provide such permission had they only included that in the instructions. Perhaps t’was the scruffiness of his photo. Must come from a shady family, that one. But it’s here, and now--if I can get reasonably comfortable that Becca and company will be in Serrekunda during Gabe’s Spring break from school--I can try to secure reasonable flights. And no...this does not mean the ones offered on Expedia for $2500 a pop round trip from Gatwick. This means a cheap charter, and that may be harder to come by.

But what an intriguing thought--Gabe and Jeff in West Africa! Goodness...we can lose Jeff in Chipotle...we’d have to put him on a leash abroad. But how else will I ever travel, I ax ya? So, ok.

I have pushed some furniture aside in my brain. I’m making room--trying, in fact to make a most welcoming space--for a character to inhabit. See, according the the fiction-writing study I’m doing via The Open University, UK, fiction should begin with the character, around whom the plot will develop. Try to do the plot first, and the characters may not bake properly. Maybe that’s been my problem all along...hence the redecorating in my brain. I await a worthy protagonist. I hope the feng shui is adequate in my cerebrum. Not sure. Maybe a tinkly fountain would help.