While savoring the famous 17th Street BBQ, pain shot through my molar.
Of course, when I went on COBRA insurance, I didn’t take out the dental portion, because my teeth are…perfect. I made a quick dental appointment with an unknown dentist, in an unknown location. I assured the receptionist that my perfect, cavity-less mouth would be a quick appointment and I uttered aloud,
“I am sure I won’t need a root canal.”
Five minutes later the stranger dentist looked over the top of her glasses and smirked,
“Honey, you need a root canal.”
This ironic moment reminded me of my initial emergency room visit at the start of my health crisis. I stumbled in the hospital door clutching my chest. “I’m having incredible chest pains,” I stuttered.
“But I’m sure it is not my heart.”
Of course, those were the famous last words before my urgent, lifesaving heart procedure.
Much like my pearly whites and ticker, my Millicent van trip has proven that nothing is perfect. Nothing!
When I bought my crisp Rand McNally 2022 map, I wrote my route in red permanent marker across the streets of all 50 states. Who was I kidding? I have now rewritten the route so many times that I’ve decided to keep carbon copies of the US map by the dozens. I’ve transferred from tracing the route in marker, to red pen, to pencil, and now I’m adding sticky notes on top of the map to keep its original character intact.
The Millicent journey still continues, but there seems to have been more stops than go.
Aside from my root canal, the Millicent van sprung a leak…in more ways than one, my house in Atlanta needed multiple repair technicians, and the spring weather has dumped sideways rain at seemingly every moment.
Interestingly and importantly, during my unplanned ‘stops’, I have been able to spend time bridging relationships and caring for friends and family in need.
Though I’ve not covered as many miles as I expected, I have dug exponentially deeper than I expected.
Yes, I’ve covered twelve states since the start, but more importantly I have engaged in meaningful conversations and interviews with courageous women and translated the miles on dozens of canvases through expressions of light and horizons.
So, no, the journey hasn’t been perfect,
but it has already been even more beautiful than I anticipated.
I have said recently that I am a recovering perfectionist. Maybe I should throw out the permanent marker and drive the imperfect, beautiful route.
After my root canal…let’s see what’s next.
