it started online, with hinge actually. "make a friend out of town so you can get out of town. maybe I'll move there. cold af but sports, beaches, and hella attitudes with lobster, quahog, and oysters for days. hell yeah." what she told herself.
so she headed to boston, partied in southie, a drive by the stadium (it wasn't the season for it), made new friends, irish pubs, and a lot of talk about tattoos. she still has a few of these friends.
of course service dogs fly for free on planes. he was a big boy though, couldn't fit under the seat in front of her, and an extra ticket or buying out the whole row to give other people space? not in the budget at any time. not every trip was sans driggs. fun, but missing a very important medical device at home. her choice, a requirement, survivable alone with skills and awareness, always best with a buddy, just in case anything.
she left her hinge location there, veto'd the northeast living place for weather reasons (its cold enough here), met a guy, and a few long months later her and driggs packed up for the southeast, a "middle ground warm place with palm trees, oysters and southern hospitality that you can do lagom while working 3 other jobs" 2,000 miles away from home. make sense? nada. but she needed a break from real estate here, maybe do it there, door dash until another "waitress" job, already driving food for a year, at least she'd be warmer and just continue lagom. it was the dead of winter too, why not? she'll make it work with or without him.
so they made the drive in 4 days, lots of roadside stops and hotels, emergency cash envelope from dad, the ozarks, memphis blues, talladega stadium with sweet tea and a collectible shot glass from every state along the way. the ship turned around quick, but maybe she'd save up and stay there.
well, they lasted 3 months of yelling matches, locked doors with a stolen phone, chosen jobs, stolen cash, "lagom isn't good enough but give me credit for that" and not enough money to leave yet. grami called it, so she called dad, stayed with a friend for a week, dave said "write a letter if he's serious about the court threat" and got the hell out of there. they made it home in 3 days that time. the only guy she ever called her "boyfriend." illinois's corner to denver in one day to stay with dad at work that weekend, a "speeding" ticket along the way. "cool dog" he said. "you moving for college?" nope. goin' home. "cool. here's a ticket. drive safe enjoy the trip."
now... there's a lotta nice people there. he liked driggs so much he stayed as his profile picture for over a year after, with someone else the whole time. a picture of both of them in the tetons. her place. a carved tree with their initials was there. it was... cut down. not the right one though... even still... eventually... "cut it up for a project or firewood." she said. "i can't believe i let him do that. a perfectly good tree ruined forever. i can't even live with that knowledge."
a nature experiment, beach walks with driggs alone (thank god), one church visit, a bestie from mississippi to decompress with, bluegrass, blues, street vendors, and planning a sweet escape back to the red rocks with a sweetgrass rose in hand from a stranger.
drumroll please... a collection of beautiful places and lagom vibes to go along with it.
