2 weeks in bite-sized chunks

on wednesday, august 8th, a new chapter in life began for me. i didn't know it at the time, but i was stepping into the dimly-lit vestibule separating young adulthood from full-fledged adulthood. there've been a few instances in my life thus far when i've felt a sense of being a person, on my own, in charge of my own destiny. but these instances, however brief, had more to do with autonomy than turning into my own father. there were several moments throughout this journey when i felt a sense of kinship with my parents, knowing what i apparently put them through so many years ago with my aching desire to help check into the hotel room or have them explain the deep reasoning behind every little thing they did. (why? but why? but why?)

the other sensation that peppered my journey was, and this is almost embarrassing to admit for some reason, the feeling that i was the father in some chevy chase movie about taking a cross country trip. some of the key elements that contributed to this were our clutch going out unexpectedly, discovering that our campsite had been overrun by ants by way of inadvertently eating some, a "check engine" light illuminating somewhere between the two "d"s and the "w-h," a late night repack of recently unpacked camping gear due to potential emergency room trip and the kid throwing up in the car, once all over herself, once caught by mom in a napkin and thrown out the window without so much as a bathroom break to clean up.