Road trip across America… daily reflections by Ema and Elle.
By Ema ~ I did not sleep long even in a real bed and awoke to a hot desert day. I showered again just to appreciate the waters and feel fresh, as who knows when the next shower will come. I had wanted to do laundry as there was a laundry mat there, but with the pain in my arm I did not think I could actually strip the bed myself and Elle was still sleeping. I got the van loaded up except for our toiletries and clothes, and woke Elle a half hour before checkout time. She does not move at first upon waking, rather rolls around staring at the world. Thankfully I had asked for an extended checkout and was granted a half hour extra, as it was only 15 minutes until checkout before I was able to get her up out of the bed. She took the 45 minutes to get ready, but we were out in time with our cups filled with ice from the hotel machine. My pain was really bad this morning and it is getting more difficult to hold things and happening while driving as well at the night now. I was considering going to an urgent care or something when the massage studio we walked past the night before popped into my mind. We stopped for breakfast at a natural food cafe known as The Local, near Prescott College. I had an açaí smoothie bowl which was the prefect light combination for my belly. It had some fresh blueberries and bananas on top garnished with toasted almonds, shredded coconut, and a bit of granola.
I drove us back to the spot we parked yesterday and decided to walk over and see if the massage school by chance had an opening before we parted town. Unfortunately they did not have a clinic going but asked what was happening and I explained my situation of traveling, the pain, numbness, and lack of sleep due to it all… with needing to drive I was seeking a healing, but preferred not to go to an MD. It was a student and professor that were having a private lesson and they offered to take me in to work on for their lesson. I was so grateful I happily agreed and got onto the table after they prepared the fresh sheets. My little sister had asked to observe and they invited her into the room too. It was a rather large space, so I create her a pile of pillows for her to sit on and she joined us. They were absolutely a gift for my body and took turns working on me for about 2 hours. Upon rising I felt a world of difference, but still in pain. I was so grateful for this and asked what I should pay them in return, only to be told the payment was, I was the students lesson for the day. I was overwhelmed with gratitude for these kind souls and tears came to my eyes. He told me not to cry and she said, don’t cry as you will make him cry and he is an ugly crier. We all laughed instead. I gave hugs as it just felt right. They were truly angels upon my path and I could not give enough gratitude.
I had planned to get us onto the road to New Mexico after my healing session, but Elle was desperate to see the square with the shops open and it was only a couple blocks more, so we wandered down. The town was hosting another festival with a giant water slide that went from the top of the street down the hill into the center of town in the square. It was tempting, but a little pricey and you needed your own float toys, so we passed and went to find lunch. We settled on a Thai restaurant, although the little Italian restaurant I worked at for my first real job as a teen was still there and I was tempted. It still smelled the same as I remember and looked similar, but had expanded to the shop next door also. These days pizza and the like do not agree with my belly, so we settled on a Thai restaurant that was new since I had last visited. We kept it simple and shared spring rolls and a green curry with a 0 temp this time in hopes Elle could eat get used to the curry flavor. To me it was basically coconut milk with a faint spice, but it was probably prefect for a unsettled belly. Elle ended up eating most of the rice while I finished the “curry”.
My hip was really starting to hurt on the same side as my arm, so I felt we needed to get going, but Elle swept me away into the bookstore I spent a lot of time at in my youth.
The day lead us from place to place and soon the sun was setting. I passed the local theater that I was involved with in my teens, and we explored lots of antique shops. Elle even found the best priced house in Prescott! She was ready to buy and move back.
I had found a little silver spoon with a sunflower at an antique store earlier and was tempted to go back to get it. I have collected little spoons since I was a child, and am still enchanted by them. I actually eat with them, not just collect the spoons. I figured the shop would be closed, but Elle convinced me we should try, so we made our was as fast as possible back to the shop. They were closed, and I figured it was not meant to be, but the young lady was still there closing up and opened the door for us knowing exactly what we wanted. She happily got us the spoon and we were on our way.
It was after dark by the time we got to the van and I was tired, but knew I had to at least get in some driving, as much as Elle begged to stay.
We had to stop through Prescott valley to the Circle K that we got Elle at 12 years ago on her second day of life. For those of you that don’t know, Elle is adopted. All those years ago, my Mom and I went to go and get her late at night. She was so tiny. She was so small we had to dress her in dolls clothes, as even preemie clothes were too big. She road home that first night holding my pinky.
We had stopped at one Circle K on the way into Prescott Valley, but I felt it was not right, so we went in and sure enough the lady told us there was another older shop just down the street. As soon as we saw it, I knew it was the one, as nothing had changed.
As we drove away from the Circle K onward on our journey, she once again wrapped her hand around my pinky finger. I set the GPS for Albuquerque, New Mexico and drove us through the night. Elle worked on her journal until she fell asleep. I got us about three hours away near Meteor Crater and stopped at the rest stop to sleep. Elle was straight into bed and out. I could not even convince her to put pajamas on. I let her sleep. I joined soon after, but sure enough was awoke by my belly a couple hours later. Thankfully there were bathrooms near, so I locked Elle in and went and dealt with my poor body. I was exhausted and was straight back into bed after getting sick, but soon after was awoke by my arm numb, and at the same time screaming at me in pain. The night consisted of rising long enough for the pain to settled a little and laying down again for a couple hours until the next round. I know the massage helped so much, but this issue seems it will need much more love to be resolved.
By Elle ~ Today I woke up and sissy informed me we had to get ready quickly because technically we only had 15 minutes to get ready, even though she had gotten us in until 1130 not 11. She claims if she had told me that then I would’ve never gotten up. I got up and she told me that I should take a shower as we didn’t know when we will have a next one and Brenda was a mess. I got up, got out my clothes, and took a shower. At first I was only going to put conditioner in my hair, but I decided I was going to wash it too. Once done I brushed my hair and finished getting ready. Then we started to pack up our things in the car. Once finished an employee told us that we could keep the cards to the door. We checked with the office to make sure. They said it was fine I think. Sissy was in very bad pain so we went to massage school and hoped that they would help her. We walked in and there was a student and professor. Sissy did her magic little sweetness that she does. I don’t know how she does it. At first she wanted me to sit out in the waiting room, but I said I have magic hands and I wanted to observe, so maybe one day when we’re on the road I can help her and make her feel a little better, so she talked to the people and they agreed and she made a little pillow pile for me to sit on. I sat there for most the time but at one point I don’ know why but I decided to go under the table. Eventually I continued watching. After a few hours, well maybe only two, he said he was done and she was free to put her clothes back on. She sat up and looked like she had just woken up so I took it upon myself to grab her outfit and dress her. It was rather an odd experience I’d say. But once upon a time she changed my diapers so it’s the least I could’ve done. She thanked them and asked how much, or what she can do for them because of the massage. The professor said the payment was him being able to learn from her because she was a good case as she was all messed up. They refused money. Sissy thanked them so much. She even cried, but the professor told her she couldn’t because the other guy had ugly tears and this was going to make him cry. So they laughed rather than crying. Just about then it was time for us to head on. When walking out of the building I started going the way we came from. Sissy thought I wanted to look around I just went with it. Sissy said if we were going to walk around we should at least get the cameras, so we went to the car and came back. We headed downtown and we met a sweet couple and talked for a long time. After leaving the couple we stopped at lots of cute little shops, unfortunately the candle place didn’t have handmade candles today, so we couldn’t make are own candles, but we kept going and found tiny metal spoons. The reason this is so important is because Sissy has collected spoons since she was a tiny little thing and these were the smallest spoons she had ever seen. She had to get one of course. They were not cheap because they were real silver. They were $10 per tiny spoon. We later decided to get the sunflower one although each one had a different flower. Sissy says it was very difficult to decide, but we are the Soleil sisters so we got the sunflower spoon. We went to a Thai restaurant. I had yummy food. My favorite part was the spring rolls and the rice with the sauce of course. I put the sauce for your spring rolls on my rice it was really yummy. They made a mistake with tofu so I got to try steamed and fried tofu. I like them both. After eating we went to the car, that was when we decided w had to go back and get the sunflower spoon, as we had only looked at it, but we had decided on it. We ran back in hopes that it would not be closed yet. When we got there it was. The young woman in there was still in there. It was still closed but she opened the door for us and allowed us to get the spoon. Sissy was trying to figure out what we’re going to do because we were not supposed to be in Prescott still. We weren’t sure if it was a good idea to drive through the night. However we have a deadline so right now we are driving in the car. We went to the Circle K where my family got me when I was being adopted. It was a special moment. We took lots of photos and much minutes of videos, wait that didn’t make sense. I got a wooden rose and a sweet treat too. I didn’t want to leave, but we had to keep driving. I imagine soon I’ll be falling into a deep sleep for we still have hours to drive. Good night.
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