where did that come from?

hi. i didn't fall off the face of the earth. punkin is with her grandparents this weekend, so we were...er...busy. anyhoo...the interview went well. i never heard the words "you're hired" but the fact that bosslady wants me to come by and sign a background check release and pee in a cup is encouraging. you know you basically have the job when they ask you to pee in a cup.

i was thinking about how complicated technology has gotten since i was a kid. when i was 8 years old, we moved out to the country - i mean the woods, in the middle of nowhere, down a dirt road that got so muddy when it rained that my dad couldn't get to work. we were so rural that to dial a phone number, we just had to dial the last 4 digits! now we're dialing at least 10 digits, sometimes more.

a couple of years ago, i was visiting one of my parents, and decided to take a detour to that old house and check it out. even though nothing had changed much, the road looked familiarly strange. like i had dreamed about it once. i drove by instinct mostly. the road had been paved since we left. i drove up the hill, looking to the left into the woods where the neighbor kids and i used to have our secret fort. i saw construction vehicles and the skeleton of a house invading our sacred space.

i drove slowly by the house where i grew up. the house looked the same, but different vehicles were parked in the drive. the woods in the front had been cleared out a little more. an old washing machine was carefully placed at the curb, awaiting heavy trash day. i didn't see any little girls wandering around outside, trying to entertain herself and trying not to be scared. i didn't see the lonely expression on her face as she chatted with her imaginary friends that would hang around throughout high school. i didn't see the isolation of having daddy at work and mommy passed out on the sofa. i was glad i didn't see any of that.

i sped up so as not to look like a stalker, and turned around in the next drive. again by instinct, i drove out of the neighborhood. i looked in the rearview mirror as i was about to turn on to the highway. i whispered goodbye to the ghosts of my past. the day was bright and sunny.