Two Kids, A Cat and 2600 Miles

I didn’t realize how emotional leaving my beloved Alaska would be. Now, before you get all excited, this isn’t a permanent leave. I’m keeping my residency and I will be back. But Bay wants to be an actress/musician and I have to go south with her if she’s going to pursue her dream.

We didn’t take this decision lightly. It wasn’t even a decision really. An agent called, offered her a contract and next thing we knew, we were packing. So the hubby is at work and I’m towing a 27 ft trailer down the Alcan.

Of course, it can’t go smoothly. Straight out of the gate was the weather report of snow at Donnelly Dome.  Frantically packing, I go to hook the trailer to the Durango and the plug won’t fit in it’s slot. Can’t leave without brake lights.  I made a frantic call to my dear friend Elizabeth and her husband heads straight over.

He finally manages to get the plug to fit but notices the tires low. So, off we go and he fills my tires and checks my propane. Lastly, he points out that I need mirror extensions or I’ll be ticketed in Canada. Praise God for Brian.

The first night we make it to Anchorage.

Morning next, off to O’Reilly’s for mirror extensions. They only had one. So, there we sit and wait for the 2nd. It’s nearly 4pm when we hit the road. Joy, oh joy, we are on our way.

So, anyone that lives in Alaska knows that the winters are not kind to the roads. We left Palmer headed North and as the population got more sparse, the roads got worse. Up and down the car bounced, the cats crying, howling and frothing at the mouth. The kids are disgusted by the cat. The cats wandering the car dragging spittle everywhere. It’s so bad that it’s comical. And in the middle of the chaos, the car engine light pops on.

Yep, that red light, staring at me from the dash. And we were still two hundred miles from Tok. That’s when Brian calls. Did I already say praise God for Brian.

So, here we are, sitting in Tok. The red light was benign, but I need an oil change and the back tire assembly has to be replaced. Had it not been for the red light we would have continued on and we most likely would have lost a tire somewhere in the Yukon.

The kids are burning some energy. The cat is enjoying a peaceful day on my bed. I’m blogging. 

Prom

My daughter is going to prom tonight. No big deal, you say. Prom is a right of passage. Aw, but you don’t know my sweet girl. Beautiful, intelligent and terrified to talk.

Tonight is almost unexpected. It started with a comment I made six or seven months ago. “Bryzy, find a boy to take Bay to prom and I’ll drive her up here.  I just want her to have a normal high school experience.”

Normal high school experience?  Yeah, Bay is homeschooled. Now, before you say anything about awkward homeschoolers you need to understand that Bay has always been painfully shy, even when she went to public school up through fourth grade. Bay is also a singer/songwriter and she performs on stage on a regular basis.

That’s the thing that amazes me the most. Here is this beautiful sixteen year old girl that has difficulty stringing words together in a sentence when talking to strangers but put her on a stage and she comes alive and she can sing in front of thousands of people. And even more amazing...she’s really good.

This is a child that is so terrified to talk that the thought of talking to a stranger on the phone can bring her to tears. This child of mine can barely conversate with people she has known most of her life and sees somewhat regularly. This child can sit in a room of teens for a friend’s birthday party and not talk all night out of fear.

And tonight she is going to prom...with a boy...she has never met. We have seen a picture of him. He is definitely over six feet tall. Bay is 5’4. He is blonde. Kind of cute. And he is willing to go to prom with a girl he is never met.

We know he is into acting. Bay has been in a short film and is headed to L.A. after graduation this May because she has an agent. I don’t know if he knows that. Maybe Bryzy told him to encourage this blind date to prom. Maybe she showed him countless videos of Bay on stage. How Bryzy set it up doesn’t really matter. It’s Bay’s first date and she is excited.

How do I know she’s excited?  It’s six am and my night owl is upstairs getting ready. Clothes are in the wash. She’s showering and packing for a three hour drive to her friends house to go to prom. We don’t leave for three more hours. And she is my procrastinator, never ready on time kid.

So tonight my daughter is going to prom.