Today's fortune: You will travel to many exotic places.
Happy Easter, everybody!
When people think Easter, usually the word "exotic" does not come to mind. Usually Easter is a time when people think of pastel-colored eggs and bunnies and Jesus and ham. But I spent my Easter pondering the possibilities of what this fortune could mean - between bouts of stuffing a wonderful home-cooked brunch into my face.
Jamie and I spent much of the day at my parents' house, and while we were there I was reminded of one of the least exotic places I'd ever been. Many moons ago during my childhood, my parents had our house fumigated. We couldn't stay in the house overnight, so we drove to a hotel. But the hotel was all booked up. We drove to the next one. No vacancies. Again and again and again we stopped at hotels and motels along the road, and it seemed there was no room for us at the inn (Wait - that's the wrong Christ-related holiday).
Finally, we found a motel with a vacancy - in the major metropolis of Holt, Missouri, population 405 at the 2000 Census.
Now I'm not saying there's anything particularly wrong with Holt. Towns like Holt dot the American landscape, and they make this country the proud place it is. But on that particular night, after searching the backroads of northwest Missouri for a hotel room, Holt seemed like the last place we wanted to be.
And the motel was not much to speak of. It was dirty and it smelled bad. But my parents were dog-tired, midnight was approaching, and we were all too exhausted to drive on any farther.
In the morning, we discovered the possible source of the smell. Parked outside our room was a tanker truck with the words "HAZARDOUS WASTE" emblazoned on the side.
Let's just say it wasn't a dream vacation.
But this fortune says I'll travel to many exotic places. And Jamie and I have been discussing taking a summer trip recently, especially since a previous fortune told us to travel, and others have implied the same. We are considering many possibilites, keeping in mind our tightened budget situation, but at least one of those possibilities includes a beach. Living in the literal center of a large land mass, you can't get much more exotic than that.
On the way home from Easter brunch today, Jamie and I talked about this fortune, and about our upcoming trip. "I just want to spend time with you," she said. "Every trip we've taken - even the little ones - I've had a blast, because we've been together."
I turned up the Van Morrison song on the radio and grabbed my wife's hand as we cruised down the highway.
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