My 75-Year Road Trip • Memoir and Musings

Girl unravels the "Why's?" of how she wound up in this crazy place with the Big Mistake. And feels awe and gratitude, if not some pride, at how much she has faced and dealt with. She finds her "I" and embraces her Self. Unbeknownst to her though, one more unexpected, ugly experience is on the horizon. But she will deal, with confidence, courage, and chutzpah.

Although supported by her friends, the "sisterhood," and by the RCMP, Girl discovers she really has to take care of things herself, be proactive. Some of her tactics are strengthening and some desperate, her actions and reactions range from brave to stupid, and some consequences are affirming, others not so much.

The interwoven, back-and-forth time-line continues. as Girl thought she'd ended this relationship from hell. Well, she had, but he hadn't.

In this and the next 3 episodes I tell the 3-year story of how an ordinary Girl got involved with a bad Boy... this is the one novelette in my memoir that wouldn't stop giving. My intention and hope is that this story with its ups and downs, and surprise ending, will be shared by listeners with other women they know who may be in a similar situation.

I'm not talking about the 1960s here! Warning -- this episode is about the experiences of solo seniors re-entering the dating world, and sex once again being on the table (or wherever.) It's more of a researched essay (lecture?) on this new place we can be in and the unexpected exploding increase in STDs as a result. But I then soften the tone with a story I've called "Penis Envy."

Yes, I know I'm a dinosaur, still resisting having a cell phone.... I try not to be so sensitive to what I see around me with how technology and the use of cell phones has affected us all. But I am.

We have times in our lives and experiences during those times that, in hindsight, we can't believe really happened. Yet we get through them... sometimes damaged or changed, But more often though, stronger and wiser.

Another off-road spin I wasn't expecting. When I got back onto the road, I was changed and had gained a new perspective on my life and life.

Someone once said, "Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes in the middle of nowhere you find yourself." And if this happens, you might discover, as explorer and scholar Ibn Battuta did in the 1300s, that travelling "... leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller."

Someone once said, "Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes in the middle of nowhere, you find yourself." And if this happens, you might discover, as explorer and scholar Ibn Battuta did in the 1300s, that travelling "... leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller."