Celia knew she needed sleep, but sleep was the one thing that eluded her night after night after night. Celia simply did not sleep much anymore, and her ragged depression gave witness to that fact: when Celia lost sleep, she lost her mind.
These days, her mind was nowhere to be found because she had totally lost it.
All it took was the prospect of a road trip of hundreds of miles she was about to take with her husband, a man she knew to be a good driver, but who nonetheless scared the hell out of her whenever he did drive. Celia was a nervous wreck and thoughts about this long long road trip kept her awake nights as she went through every possible scenario concerning the trip.
What to actually pack? The car would make it easier to pack all she thought she would ever need. But what if she forgot something? What if the one thing she needed was the one thing she had left behind? What if she needed to go to the bathroom every hundred miles or so and they had to continually stop to relieve her aging bladder? At that rate, they would never reach Michigan, where Pepe’s 101 year old grandmother waited to greet them.
Celia despised flying, so Pepe, wanting to get Celia to his parents house because they missed her and she never went with him on his regular trips to see his family because she hated flying…so…Pepe came up with the idea of this leisurely car trip and so they would soon be driving across the midWest to Michigan….it promised to be a trip of great loveliness and fun though perhaps a trip of rage and misery too , but she hoped to make the trip as fun as possible for them both.
She even renewed her California drivers license….something she had not done in a couple of years since she didn’t drive anymore. Since moving to their new apartment, she drove so rarely that she didn’t even know exactly how to get out of their massive secure underground parking facility. That garage had more mystery for her than the Pentagon, and seemed as difficult to get out of.
So her first task?
To learn how to get out of their very own parking garage…so many twists and turns.
But now, not only would she share the driving with Pepe, she would be driving a lot, across massive portions of the American Midwest…she only hoped and prayed she was up to the task.
And she was determined to be up to it.
Meanwhile, she lay awake night after night sorting through what she needed to pack, how many hours a day she would have to drive before they got to their next luxury hotel…because they were determined to make it an indulgent trip, not one where they would stay in Motel 6’s, but rather staying in hotels that had spas, massages and the chance to have mani/pedis along the way.
So, first stop?
Salt Lake City, where they would stay at the Grand American, with a complete spa. Pepe had even booked them a VIP Package, that came with many amenities, like $300.00 in room extras, so they could indulge in room service, get bottles of champagne, plates of chocolates, and visit the spa every day.
These little luxuries appealed to Celia.
After all, they could easily afford it.
It was the worrying that made her uneasy. Would her older body endure such a car journey?
The last time she and Pepe drove such distances, they were coming from the East Coast to establish a home base on the West Coast. They took two weeks to make the trip.
They had doggies then, so they booked in pet-friendly motels,
and all four of them-Celia, Pepe, dogs Sally and Cyrano , had a grand time. Pepe did become dehydrated from so much extended driving, and had to go to a hospital in Arizona for re-hydration, but that was easily accomplished and soon they were on the road again.
That was over a decade ago.
So, this car trip to Michigan was the first one they would be taking in 12 years.
This worried Celia.
But it could be a great and fine adventure.
She only hoped. And she worried.
That thing that was quieter than sleep?
Peace of mind.
If only.