Ginger Unplugged

I have this marvelous plan to take my children one by one to visit their grandparents each month. One kid per month. Simple, right? But I wanted to ride the train to make it even simpler, and a little more exciting for the kids than driving. It's not working out so well. This is why one of my children (Butterfly) may never join me again:  Teaching her "street smarts" while walking through the railroad/homeless shelter area of Salt Lake City where the train lets off. Probably not smart to be there in the first place. "Don't worry kid. I have my finger on the pepper spray trigger." She didn't look comforted. My sweet grandma talking about what she feels is her imminent death for the bulk of our visit.  Our train hitting a deer going 80 mph on the way home. There are graphic details I will spare you. Butterfly, however, was not spared. Don't worry. The train didn't even wobble on impact. The man sitting across from us on the train explainin...

This all started the other night when I went for a walk with my friend. I had been looking forward to it all day and by the time we could go the sun had set, the clouds had rolled in and it was dark. We walked along the river trail anyway where before long the trees were creaking and lashing out at us in the howling wind. I admit, it was a bit spooky. But when my friend said something like, "Heaven's unleashed its fury!" You know what I said? "Bring it on." There was no way she was getting out of that walk with me. The walk was relatively uneventful. To liven things up, I decided to see if my pepper spray worked. It didn't, which was good to know. It just drizzled down my glove and smelled like aerosol. Are you supposed to shake that stuff first? Do you have time to shake it while attackers are pouncing? Does it just get shaken naturally by your fear? Anyway, I went walking today again. I wore the same gloves. I rubbed my eye. As I threw my contact into the ...