Have you ever had one of those days where the universe seemed to realign itself on a new axis just three inches to the right of you and four feet ahead. It still is the same life you had that morning, but something doesn’t feel quite right. As if there was something important you missed, but you can quite put you finger on it. That was last Saturday.

Technowitch had her annual Girl Scout trip to Adventureland. The High Priestess tapped me to drive her and assorted other Girl Scouts to the amusement park outside of Des Moines. It’s a two-hour trip, but I planned on duct taping the girls into the back seat so I wouldn’t go nuts. TW wanted to do all the rides that would make me freak out. (Last time we went the snot nosed teenagers running the rides were asleep at the wheel. I was sure TW was in mortal danger.)

It’s 7 AM Saturday and TW and I are waiting at the Girls Scout Mother’s house. Other parents in cars start showing up and to make a long story short, there were six cars to transport six kids. TW wants to ride with all her friends in the GS mother’s van. Leaving me with no one to take. OK, the rational part of my mind thinks, it’s stupid for me to drive to Des Moines for two hours and spend the rest of the day tailing TW. I’d be a stick in the mud Dad screaming: “NO you can’t ride that ride! It will be a Death Trap! Hear sweetie ride the Labybug ride.”

Of course the rational part of my brain thought I was just being paranoid, and beside I really wanted her to have fun with her friends. So I gritted my teeth, swallowed my pride at my daughter’s total rejection of me, and sent her on her way. The HP packed two fruit bars, a towel, sunscreen and a hat with me and I gave them to TW. I hugged her, asked her if this was OK (she said yes), and waved bye. The GS mother got fifteen dollars for TW to use to buy drinks or whatever she wanted at the park. I left think I did the right thing.

I get home and the High Priestess gives me a look liked I had lost my mind and I was a totally idiot. OK, she’s pissed and that get me to worry also. I trust the GS mother, but now I’m convinced the other parents arte all serial killers and child molesters. I spend two hours thinking I could catch them on the highway and save my daughter. HP leaves with the boys to run errands she had planned. I know she will never forgive me if anything happens to TW. I hear nothing for another three hours, while visions of TW falling to her death flash through my head. In a bizarre twist of fate not getting any calls for hours is a good thing, because to mean everything is fine. When you don’t get a call at the expect time of their return, then you really worry. I watched a movie, played WoW, and picked up the house a bit, anything to keep thinking about TW bleeding from every orifice in her body. Noon hits and the HP and the buoys are at Taco Bell and want me there for lunch.

At Taco Bell, I stuff myself trying not to think of TW, then something odd happended. Some old white guy with his grandkid asks me if I know anything about the Drake Relays. I nod yes, and he starts talking to me. He goes on and on about how fast some kid from Iowa was and how much faster some “COLORED” kid was and did I know him. “COLORED”?!? I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it, but it was just so odd to have a living breathing person say that word and mean people. It was freaky. It’s 2006, and this guy can only come up with this word to describe a black person. Maybe he is just stuck somewhere back in the 60’s and his paradigm is frozen. It’s not that he is a bad guy, but his thoughts and focus can’t shift into any different modes of thinking. I think I’m getting this way to. I’m stuck somewhere in the late 1990’s. (Aside: Do you every get the feeling might you are just a hair breath away from slipping into the past. A song comes on the radio, or you smell lilacs in the garden and you suddenly feel you are no longer anchored in the present. Nothing around you seems to be from the current NOW, and you very well could be back in third grade or high school, in the 70’s, 80’s or some other time.) I leave the guy and his grandson sitting in the in Taco Bell, and my family minus one goes to the Goodwill next door.

Goodwill has changed its’ niche in life. It’s quite the upscale place as far as second hand stores go. I’m digging around and find some really great CDs that have never been used! The big prize is a cassette deck by Technics! Six bucks for something that probably ran for $150. It’s perfect! Now I can finally put all those tapes into my Ipod. So I start thinking about fate. If I went with TW to Adventureland I wouldn’t be finding this neat old-tech toy. God likes me. I have no idea why. I’m thinking a little less of my daughter’s immediate demise.

After securing my ill-gotten booty, The HS, boys and I are off to the bowling alley. I like bowling. It’s a game you can learn in three minutes, but it can take a lifetime to master. My first game is ok, but my second one sucks and the third one… Let’s just say I would have done better jerking off a goat and having the goat bowl for me. Sometime I thrown like ZEUS hurling fireballs, other time I feel like the special needs kids, or the toddlers who use the bumper bowling options on the lane. I gotta work on all the little things: stance, approach, aim, hook… stop staring at the coeds in the next lane.

Technotaz is having a great time, but gets upset when he throws a gutter ball. T-taz just needs to learn control and he will do well. Technowiz is pissed because he says he doesn’t like bowling. Personally, I think it is because this is the one thing his big brother can beat him in. All T-wiz needs to do is focus and listen to a few hints, but he doesn’t want that. I can’t understand that. He could be great like he is in so many other things, but this is his kryptonite. Bowling ends with T-taz and I finishing two more games and the High Priestess and Technowiz playing mini-golf.

It’s 5 o’clock, TW should be home soon and I’m crashing from the worry. I lie down and wait for the phone to ring. It does around 6:30 pm. The GS Mother is just leaving Des Moines. TW will now face two hours on I-80 with drunken Memorial Day Weekend drivers. I worry some more and cook hot dogs on the gas grill. After dinner, the High Priestess and I go for a walk around the block. When we step back on our driveway. TW and the GS mom pull up in the van. TW is asleep in the back. She has had a wonderful time she tell us after waking up to get out of the van. I hug her and never want to let her go anywhere again.

I’ll be a wreck when she goes to college.