A Trip to Modesto

Okay, I often complain that all of my friends are online–and it’s true. I do tend to live a lot of my life on the little glowing box in the kitchen, or, now, in the smaller red glowing box in my purse. (Mate bought me a new one before I went to Florida–it’s an evil, addictive thing, being able to check your e-mail on the go. If you can at all avoid the smartphone, do. Yes, it makes your life easier, but no, you don’t respect yourself in the morning.) Anyway, Lonelyfish is not one of the online variety friends; although she lives two hours away now, we started out as coworkers, and continued on as friends, and even though she moved away, we still make an effort to visit once a year.

Recently, she published her first e-book. Year of the Dog and I’m proud to say I’m in the dedication. That’s exciting–she’s one of the few people (besides Mate, of course) I know RL who thinks my writing is a good thing, and not just a huge fucking detour from what my life SHOULD have been. (Seriously–my parents started out supportive, but when they realized how big it was getting, they became more and more unimpressed. I’m like, “But I was filling up story notebooks since I was in the fourth grade! I almost didn’t get my credential because I was going to take a year off and write before getting my MA in WRITING! How is it a surprise when, now that I have the chance, I embrace it in both hands? And how am I supposed to clean the house when I’m home if I’m WRITING AS A CAREER?” Parents are strange people. I’m almost embarrassed to be one.)

Anyway– we were also pregnant together– twice! So, once a year, we’ve gotten together at Fairy Tale town to let our kids play, but, well, she lives in Modesto, and Fairy Tale town is like a half an hour from my house and an hour and a half from hers. She has a backyard and a wading pool and two kids who would love to play with mine–I owe her a trip to Modesto, and I’m glad about it.

But explaining that to Zoomboy and Squish is not so easy, especially because Modesto is sort of a flat stretch of farmland between Sacramento and L.A.. They DO remember Fairy Tale town and their once-a-year friends, but they did NOT get the significance of “Hey, we’re going to Modesto!”

“Okay, we’re going to meet Flynn and Selima–why do they live in Modesto?”

*mom draws a big blank* “Uhm, because that’s the town where Monsters Vs. Aliens happened?”

*great joy* “Yay! We’re going to Modesto!”

So Goddess bless Pixar, Monster’s vs. Aliens, and Modesto. And friends who don’t let you forget that they’re real and little kids in wading pools and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. It’s going to be a lovely day.