By Casey Hoskins
A week in Ohio visiting my daughter’s college, an enjoyable zoo trip, and practiced anxiety control. This is what last week looked like. And yes, I actually practiced controlling my anxiety before we left.
When the kids were little, we lived in Yuma, Arizona for my husband’s job. The hospital there was awful, with no peds unit, so that meant traveling for Ethan‘s care. I would drive him to Phoenix or LA, depending on his care, sometimes driving to one and flying to the other in the same day. It’s not that there wasn’t stress, it’s just that it wasn’t allowed to manifest because I had a child to take care of. Now even the mention of travel, and I’m shaking in my boots! What happened?
I put some thought into that question and came up with a theory. Small town joy. Outside of living on a military base, which isn’t the same thing, I’ve never lived in a small town. For the last seven years, I’ve happily worked in my shop, mostly by myself. Not to mention all the puttering I do at home outside of town. Everything is predictable, easy to get to, and quiet. My dream! Life has been difficult, so having a place where surprises are few is good for my soul.
Enter the redhead. This baby has big aspirations and right now a small town is not where she wants to be. In two years I have done a road trip to and navigated through California, flown into Detroit, and driven through half of Ohio. There were many more hours of driving, a college trip, and navigating a big city I don’t know, all while holding my…let’s say self…together. I did pretty good up until the very end. Let’s just say there was the flight issues on the way in and some car issues on the way out. But we made it back in one piece!
The point of my story? That getting older and small-town life is great. The anxiety I have developed from being cozy – not so great. See? Now you understand what “practiced anxiety control” is. What adventures come next are up to Emry, here’s hoping she keeps me on my toes!
