• Family,  Lee,  Weird shit that happens

    I have issues: running out of gas

    Confession: I have run out of gas in every vehicle I’ve ever owned. Ever’one. Pathetic, right? I’m not proud of it but I’m sharing it here because apparently this blog’s part-time job is to provide a forum for me to embarrass myself or my husband, or both of us. Now you might have picked up on this factoid about me if you read the he said-she said posts that we wrote when we took a wrong turn deep in the heart of Texas and nearly ran out of gas. So I figured I’d spill the full details. The time in the Skylark It all started with the 1976 Buick Skylark…

  • Family,  Photography,  Weird shit that happens

    My mom sends me messages through Cardinal birds

    Some people will think this is crazy, just a string of coincidental occurrences that I’ve bent into having larger-than-life significance. Others will understand, probably because something similar has happened to them. I think seeing a Cardinal bird is a sign from my mom that she is still with me spiritually even though she died in 2006. Not every Cardinal, just the ones that talk to me. KIDDING. I’m not that kind of crazy…yet. Here’s why I connect Cardinal sightings and my mom: First of all, my mom was a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan and loved birds, especially hummingbirds and redbirds. FYI: while she was in the hospital trying to…

  • Lee,  Randomness,  Sports,  Weird shit that happens

    What’s that smell? It’s superstition and sports

    Have you noticed that during March Madness superstition in sports seems to ramp up? People be crazy. Other people, of course, not me :) After watching Wichita State beat Gonzaga to advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament last weekend, Lee mentioned that the WSU T-shirt he was wearing had done its job – he had pulled it from “near” the dirty clothes to wear Saturday night because when he wore it Thursday, the Shockers had also won their game. {Seinfeld fans: I think this is the same as the pastry that George ate after it was “hovering” in the trash} Lee’s done this before – in fact,…

  • Lee,  travel,  Weird shit that happens

    MeLinda POV: you’re going the wrong way

    First of all, thank you to Lee for writing the first guest post here at Next Door To Normal. I didn’t ask him to write it. In fact, we hadn’t talked about this mishap on our road trip until he asked me to read a draft of his post. I was saving that conversation for the next therapy session :-o It was interesting to know what was going through his mind and so I decided to share my point of view during this same portion of our 2,500-mile road trip from Kansas to Mexico and back. Lee is the driver on trips and I am the navigator. We settled into…