Dancin’ like it’s 1999.

Six years later, I’m still loving this little alien.

We’re home. We flew into Springfield at 8 p.m. last night. Home. The sweet smell of Springfield in the evening was only slightly tainted by the heavy weight of impending doom. This morning is looking a little brighter. A late night meeting with Tim and Vin offered hope and relieved a lot of my fear. [Fear that they hated me, I guess.]

[Many of my current posts might not make complete sense if you don't know exactly what is going on right now... Sorry bout that. I'll clarify later.]

I’m posting the things I scribbled in my journal while I was gone. The whole SC Road Trip Series is posted out of order… sorry bout that.

Chicago O’ Hare

"Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me."

This childhood rhyme is a lie.

Words hurt. They hurt more than almost anything.

Words like debt, sell, liquidate, corporate bankruptcy, business broker, Iraq, relocate, good bye.

Words hurt.

Feeling a little anxious, I decided to see what Alicia Chole says about worry. After a quick trip to her Web site, I found that she wrote Words for the worried.

Suppose that we all lived in a very dry region. Every day, we are given two gallons of water. We can 1) drink the water, 2) use it for cooking, 3) water our small gardens and grow food, or 4) pour it on the sidewalk or street. Most of us would choose some combination of 1, 2, and 3. But worry is like choosing 4.

Alicia’s site is cool because you can search through her devotions by theme, scripture or title/text.

I’m in the lobby of the Columbia, SC Hampton Inn. Have I mentioned that I love this hotel?

I’m hiding from my kids and taking advantage of the free Internet and tea. I may soon take advantage of the free cookies.

We’re flying home tomorrow. I’m not looking forward to my return. I’ll be painting and packing and moving to Columbia as fast as I can. Anybody want to rent a house?

[I don't like that people can walk through the lobby and read over my shoulder... but of course anyone could go to my Web site to read this. Still it's weirding me out, so I think I'll just wait until Joel is done with the laptop and then blog.]

UPDATE: As self-conscious as I was writing this post in the lobby…. I still changed the hotel computer homepage to gentlewhisper.com… Why not? Hey is anyone reading this in the lobby? Leave a comment.

Anybody want to buy a really nice restaurant?

Anybody want to help me paint my house and pack boxes?

Travel Log: 10-26-05
Columbia, SC
Riverbanks Zoo

We got in to the zoo for free by using the Dickerson Park Zoo membership that Dave and Kelly gave us.  We spent three and half hours at the zoo and had a wonderful time.  Penguins, elephants, lorikeet, ponies, a carousel, a tram and beautiful gardens.  I can’t wait to go back.  Next time I’m taking a picnic and going hiking.

More Photos: