The Little Things

My friend Amy and I (and of course Shella and Christie as well) joined the whole "scrapbooking revolution" about two years ago. It's a whole new world of die hard crazy women who can debate for hours the merits of dry adhesive versus wet adhesive. It's a kabazillion dollar industry...Amy says it is bigger than the Taliban.

I'm preparing to go to one of our several times a year retreats, this one hosted by the lovely Donna Downey and her husband, Bill, in North Carolina. (As a bonus I get to catch up with my friend Chris who I have not seen since she moved there last summer.) Anyway...

In the process of preparing for these events (and there is preparation..more on that in future blogs) I have had the chance to sort through all sorts of pictures and things and really think about what matters to me. It's a good excercise.

One of the things I discovered which has really made a HUGE difference in my life...I mean unbelievably freeing is.....(okay, really you are not going to believe this) but my I-Pass. This litle white plastic box attached to my windshield under my rear view mirror. Simple enough device. It has meant I no longer have to make sure I have easily accessible $1 bills before I get on to !-90 and right before I get off. It has also allowed me to drive another 1 mile and a half on I-90 and avoid all of the backroad, road construction traffic on I-355 and Woodfield....now I can leisurely get off at Arlington and drive a quiet and simple 1 mile on Algonquin. AND...it means I am no longer putting my life in my hands on the nerve thrashing merge into the right lane on I-355 and down the curve and then another nerve mangling merge onto I-90. Nope. Just a simple and usually quick merge onto I-90 from Arlington Road. Un fricking believeable. And thanks to my little I-Pass I am not desperately searching for coins for this journey..oh no, I drive right under the tall electronic towers and wave at them. True, they are deducting coins from my account. But I am happily letting them as I move merrily on my way. Trust me, it's the little things.