Sometimes stories get interrupted over and over. So it is with a story my daughter and I have been trying to tell.

From December 30, 2003 through January 9, 2004. Daughter V, aka Valerie, and I went on a little cross-country road trip.

It was full of "man plans, God laughs" moments. It was full of growing pains and healing balms.

It is not the story ... it is only the beginning of the story.

As it goes with stories and time, details are slipping away from us. We didn't document it well in the first place. I know you will find this astonishing ... we even run across pivotal points that we remember very differently from each other.

We're getting a wee bit frustrated with this untold story. So...

Every Friday ... Beginning January 12 ... until we get the story told ... We are going to post a portion of the story. Most of the time I will be telling the story because I am in a place in time where I have much more time. Sometimes though Valerie will have to be the one to tell her view. Sometimes I hope Billy (my husband) will chime in with "and meanwhile back at the ranch ...." Perhaps we will get other family members to also show up and write a bit here and there.

One of our goals is to get below the "we were exhausted, we drove, we saw, we arrived, we survived" ... into the "I thought, I thought that she thought, I felt, I thought she felt, and I was exceedingly frustrated about this or that in our lives and in each other" ...etc.

We learned a lot about each other and about healing and about where our hurts really were.

We think there's even more to talk about.

Like scenery! and many other joys and moments of laughter!

Here's where YOU come in

It takes both of our brains and voices to tell the story ... AND it takes prompters (you) to dig out the better parts of the story and clarify the story. AND ... we tend to float around on the surface ... getting lost in discussion about trivia

So ... we need for you to read between the lines and ask us very personal, pertinent questions about what was
going on within.

Within reason, we will answer you.

But wait there's More!

In addition to getting to goad our memories, we invite anyone else who has a story that is either about a (one) parent and a (one) child traveling more than two days together, to send us a link -- if you have or are also telling your story. Somehow, someway we'll make a list of such stories.

But wait ... there's still More!

In the course of telling our story, we do actually arrive at certain destinations. If you have written your own story about visiting this place, When we arrive at that destination in the story leave a link in the comments. If you have a little short story of like less than 400 words, and you don't feel possessed to write about it on your own site, you can leave your story in a comment.

Ultimately

Gradually we will put together a very interactive group of pages that tells our story and hopefully inspires others to also tell their stories.

We Look Forward to Your Company on Our Road Trip! ~ and beyond ...