August 2 Crossing America

Driving North to Seattle

I sleptpretty well but oh what surprise I had when I tried to get out of my mini-van.  My back and hips were giving me excruciating pain I had to hold onto the side of my car the first few steps, then snail walk to the restroom, felt like I was a 165 instead of 65 years old.  Once back to the car I could barely tolerate the pain of crawling into the driver’s seat.  The whole day long I was in misery, even taking pain pills didn’t help.  I tried to concentrate on the beauty of driving through the Cascades, Mt Shasta was magnificent splendor with  snow still covering its peak and cascading down like a marsh-mellow ice cream sundae.  Driving the pine forested passes made me think of Colorado.  The drive up I-5 is a beautiful one for sure.  Even helps relax a worn out body, sort of.

To keep my mind busy not thinking of the pain in my hips and back I phoned Ms. Vickie and others.  I learned from Vickie that Jeanette “The Black Widow” Lee was giving an exhibition this night in Seattle.  I sent Jeanette a text message letting her know I was going to arrive in Seattle today myself and was surprised when she responded immediately with a phone call asking me to attend her exhibition.  You bet I’ll be there!  Jeanette is one of those folks who makes you feel good no matter how your day might be going or has gone.  Since I was staying at Mark and Jennie’s this night, Jeanette invited them to attend too.
The drive and the traffic, once I got close to Seattle, took much longer than I had anticipated.  I arrived in Seattle less then an hour before the exhibition.  Not having time to go to Mark and Jennie’s home first I arranged to meet them at the Garage, bar and grill where the exhibition was held.  I ducked into the restroom at the Garage to shave, brush my teeth and change into clean clothes just in time for the show to begin.   Jeanette has always been a good showman at her exhibitions with great interaction with folks but this night she has proven she is more then a good showman.  Jeanette has ascended the
pinnacle of being a FIRST CLASS motivational speaker as well.  Her opening had folks in tears, then she inspired them to be more then they had thought they could be and won their hearts and finished off with great amounts of belly laughs.  Jeanette you are far above a pool player showman, you are an inspiration to all.   No longer are you tied to the  confines of the pool community, you are a TOP SHELF world class motivational speaker who will appeal to any audience.  Great going girl, you rock!
After Jeanette’s exhibition I followed Mark and Jenni to their apartment, a nice
place which Jenni has made homey.  We visited about Jeanette’s performance, my ride across America along with pictures and videos I took along the way, visited about Mark’s job with Boeing which he is enthused, Jenni’s plan to enroll in school this fall and earn a
teaching degree as she loves children.   These two kids have their act together and I can foresee them having a wonderful life together.

Even though my back and hips are causing me a great deal of discomfort, I went to
bed feeling all is well with the world.  Folks like Jeanette, Mark and Jenni are our future a bright future, so world I say to you don’t count America out we’ll surprise you with our
resilience and can do attitude.

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