The Devil's in the Details

The scales were tipping heavily towards the middle-aged side of the equation this morning. Poor badass was taking a real beating. Stormageddon had continued all through the night, so I was severely sleep deprived and super cranky. So many little annoyances started piling on top of one another: much too early housekeeping, a breakfast I couldn't eat, more bad weather, road construction, heavy traffic, missing an exit which left me lost in a city I was trying to avoid driving through at all, and then there was Missouri. Five hours of sad, depressing, dirty Missouri. Calm friend said, "They seriously need to wash that state in hot water". Understatement. That state needs a Silkwood shower. Sorry Missouri, not a fan. My mood was sour to say the least when I checked in with calm friend to let someone know I had actually survived stormageddon and was back on the road. His suggestion: only drive enough to get through miserable Missouri and then find yourself a 4-star hotel with a hot tub and call it a day. My friends are SO smart! One of the keys to lifelong happiness is having really smart friends who are kind enough to share their wisdom with you. You can write that down if you want, it's worth remembering.

While pumping gas at the Kum & Go (I'm not making that up, stay classy Joplin, Missouri) I decided to make a serious attitude adjustment. My five-hour Missouri pity party was going to end right then and there. Little did I know Oklahoma was just a couple of miles down the road. Which reminds me, Oklahoma! What a beauty. Rolling pastures filled with lazy cows, dappled with extraordinary sunlight. It's a damn Gilpin painting. Well, it would be if he actually painted. I opened the windows, cranked the tunes, "Starz In Their Eyes" - Just Jack, drove a little too fast, and actually danced, in my car.

Another key to lifelong happiness is to have a friend who works in the hotel business. Write that down too. Just after my attitude epiphany back in Joplin, I put calm friend's hotel idea into motion and sent my friend, Smelly, who works for one of those big hotel chains in that sweet little country above us a Facebook message, and she found and booked me one slamming hotel room in Oklahoma City, of all places. It's big, and fancy, and lush, and I had a soak in the hot tub, and a swim, and drip-dried under the moonlight, had a real meal (the first in three days), and a lovely glass of red wine.

As I type this, it's thunder storming again. The lights in my hotel room are actually flickering. I don't even care. Badass is off the ropes.