12.29.22 9:00 PM MST

I am happily in the passenger seat after driving most of the day to make it up to Jeannette for having to driving the majority of yesterday’s route. Yesterday’s drive felt so short because of the break we had at the beginning of the journey in Boalsburg, PA where Jeanette’s mom lives. She is German, with a beautiful accent and we were very lucky to be there at the same time her brother Ralph and his youngest son, Henrick were visiting. We had a brunch feast with European pancakes (similar to crepes), filled with yogurt, blueberries, butter or whatever else we may have wanted. The table was beautifully prepared with saucer cups of warm coffee, a meat and cheese platter and Stollen (a German fruit bread of nuts, spices and dried fruit coated with powdered sugar, with marzipan in the middle). It was all so delicious and made me nostalgic of the trip Nik and I took to Munich a few years ago before the pandemic and the German family we met on our recent safari in Kenya. Jeanette’s mother, Inge, was an even more gracious host when you know that we only gave her an hour’s notice of our arrival. I felt so loved and cared for, which is how I have felt during all of the planning of my trip to Juneau.

There has been very little I have had to do alone (as long as I remembered to ask for help.) This includes the night when I was supposed to have sushi with my dear friend Shannon, and she arrived to pick me up and I was panicking because the giant pod Nikki had ordered for me to ship my stuff to Alaska had been sitting in my driveway for three days, empty, while I was paralyzed with the enormity of the task of filling it. The reason I was frozen was because my indecision of which items to wrench off the walls and bookshelves from Nikki and take with me and Nina.

You see, I was having a lot of guilt about taking our daughter, Nina from Nikki. I also wasn’t quite sure what I really needed because I am so very lucky to be renting my house in Alaska from a coworker at my office, Jenry. She is the office manager, where I will be working. She moved to Juneau a year ago from New Orleans with her husband, Michael, and the house they bought when they arrived wasn’t exactly they needed. So they bought a new house and kept the old as a rental. I get to be their first tenant! I was pleasantly surprised when she told me it came fully furnished! So you see, HP, God, the universe or whatever you choose to believe in keeps taking care of me every step of this journey.  

Another example of this, was when I had to admit to Nikki when we were at Jeannette’s house in PA that I had left my passport by our front door (I had put it there so I wouldn’t forget it). I need it to enter Canada and even though I have it digitally on my phone, copies of it in my car (due to all my international traveling) and had uploaded it to the Canadian Border website, google told us that there are some Border Patrol that will still insist on the hardcopy. All of us Americans keep trying to sneak across their borders looking for friendlier laws and people. I am sort of joking… Luckily, I have many people who love me and were willing to retrieve said passport and overnight FedEx it to a midpoint in our travels. Again, as long as I ask for help, I will receive it. Shout out to our friendly, pet sitter, Melissa (and third mom) who was willing to do so even in her most busy time of year. The shero who actually accomplished the task was my close friend Sam, (if you are an avid reader of this blog, she came up recently in a previous blog post) and she drove all the way from Winston Salem, retrieved our key hidden, and very kindly scooped up my passport and immediately got it packaged up for us and shipped it to a Fedex hub in Minneapolis, MN.

The ending of my pod-packing story is that my belongings that included mostly books and clothing (and I am ok with those choices) was packed frantically, in the rain by Shannon, Nikki and me. I attached a padlock, put that key of the said padlock in my purse with a piece of string attached and a key charm with the word ‘faith’ on it, because that is what I am trying to hold on to with all the craziness that 2022 has brought to me. I have not so jokingly promised to name my memoir, ‘Faith, just another F-word’ because much of my adult life has been spent trying to recover my childhood faith that was taken away after being fired from my volunteer job of Sunday school teacher of 2 and 3 years olds while I was only 15 years old myself, with my high school chemistry teacher as my assistant Sunday school teacher. Turns out the Baptist Minister that was in charge of my childhood church did not think I was a good role model for the little tykes when he found out I was dating my best friend, Tiffany. But I digress…

Today’s journey has been smooth sailing after all that drama of my previous ramblings. We did collect said passport in Minneapolis, without much fanfare. Nina napped the entire way, like the good dog that she is, only to wake up for pee breaks and treats. Jeannette and I have consumed loads of yummy coffee and road snacks (some of them actually healthy because we aren’t as young as we used to be). I love a good road trip, as does Jeanette, so it has not been too painful yet. We have had several long phone conversations with family and friends who have been willing to keep us company on our journey. Again, the lesson to all of this (and one I have learned during my last ten years of really hard life lessons), nothing has to be done alone- nor should it be done alone. My program of recovery taught be that early, that the road of happy destiny is trudged with many others by our side and when I am too tired to keep walking, I am carried by others. It is nice to be reminded over and over again.

We are ten minutes to our hotel in Fargo, North Dakota. I treated us with a Hilton Garden Inn suite with a whirlpool tub in the middle of the room, thanks to the many points I earned from all my journeys across NC and SC working for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, the last three years. You see, another lesson is that in helping others (like working for a wonderful nonprofit like PP), you reap rewards such as hotel points that buy you a ginormous bubble bath after a day’s long journey. I am signing off now. Please continue to provider your prayers and well wishes. They are much appreciated and seem to be helping us along the way! Love you all!

Sincerely, Jen, Jeannette and Nina-Nina-Ballerina