Inside jokes

I had promised a dear friend, beloved team and family member, that tonight I would write of special things. These things that are inside jokes, moments of joy that sparkle against the melancholy and surreal backdrop of our current existence. It has gotten late with fellowship and storytelling but I feel this is indeed an important part of our journey. One to which you are all entitled as beloved members of our circle.

First some special snippets, pop culture phrases and general silliness:

My family has a peculiar affinity for the Princess Bride, the original Inlaws and The Weather Channel. Common phrases thrown about (or a-boot, depending on team member) include "Get used to disappointment", "It'd take a miracle", "Serpentine, serpentine...", "And bacon", "And it doubles as a coaster, BRILLIANT!", and ANYTHING involving Jim Cantore.

Miscellania:

The path to the hospital from the hotel is one of great adventure. First we must wend our way to the great Burger King (where the correct path is a RIGHT turn). from there it is past the great mound of dirt, under the sniper bridge, past the pit crew flagging you in to windshield repair shops, to the side of the crucified Paul Bunyan automotive specialist statue, around the street of lopsided jagged potholes and finally to rest in the parking garage of no left turns. Then we work our way across the overpass-style sidewalk (or moat if it has been raining) to the heavy jasmine laden air that seals medical knowledge into a fortress Conan would envy.

Each trip through security provides a new discovery of contraband metal in Roland's clothing, a wand search and a battle with elevators that only wish to go down. (The secret key is to PRESS the lower level button, jump out of the doors' way, let the lift sink to the lower level and rise again to ascend to the 9th floor... just in case you are wondering.) There is always a new place to narrowly miss clipping a homeless person or a police car, or a new Jamaican security guard to impress with one's honesty and wristband. We wear the bands like so many bikers wear the yellow rubber bands for Armstrong. When properly applied, a single band will survive at least 5 showers and 6 days.

The trips are long and, in the evening especially, they can be fraught with anxiety. Such drives are enlivened by jokes. And the inevitable punchline has become not the one at the end of the story, but the phrase, "and as is often the case in stories like these, one thing led to another..."

It is the comfort of these rituals, the safety in the monotony of the ride, that makes the fear less palpable and the hope more sublimated. It is the way strangers become family, the casual becomes the blessed, and the ridiculous becomes the sublime.

This is our journey. The journey we strive to share with you- the highs and the lows, the endlessness of one day and the fleeting passage of one hour. Know you are welcome and your posts read by all here. Those of many words as well as those of few.

Now, tonight I am off to sleep. And, perhaps, tonight I will-

jacqui