Home again, home again, jiggity jig
Another week on the road has ended. Not the most productive week I've ever had. In fact, I'm going to just sit in this chair and contact people until I'm absolutely positive where the trees will be because I am SICK of driving around trying to find them.

We did a whirlwind tour of the monuments of DC. Seriously, we zoomed into town, parked at a meter, walked around for two hours taking pictures, ate popsicles, got back in the car, and zoomed away. It was freakin' HOT there, 98 degrees on the freeway and probably more on the Mall. The most popular spot was a gnarled tree just west of the Washington monument, offering the only bit of shade for quite a ways. We saw the Korean and Vietnam war memorials. At the Vietnam memorial, I overheard this from a kid: "Wow, there must be a thousand names! Well, maybe not a thousand. Maybe two hundred."

I adore the Lincoln memorial. Being an Illinoisan, I feel some possessiveness toward him, and visiting the memorial is like a pilgrimage of sorts. We walked into the cool interior and were suddenly surrounded by a reverent hush, and the inscription is about as powerful as the English language can convey. "In this temple, as in the hearts of the people for whom he saved the Union, the memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever." I bought a book after I got home, a biography that concentrates on the role that depression played in his life and accomplishments. (At the bookstore, an employee was helping a middle-aged woman find a book for her daughter, who was in her thirties and "didn't pay much attention in school" and now needed to brush up on her presidential history. She shot down several of the employee's suggestions because "She won't want to do all that reading, you know what I mean?" The employee politely suggested looking in the children's section, and the woman was grateful and scurried off to find an informative book that wouldn't be so crammed full of, you know, words.)

I keep waking up in the middle of the night, not knowing where I am and thinking I'm still on the road. Last night I awoke to the sound of rain, and lay in bed trying to figure out why I was lying on the ground in the woods but not getting wet. Then I wondered why the tent wasn't up and who was lying next to me. I was pretty sure I was in Maryland but had no memory of stopping for the night. This crap is starting to scare me and I really hope it stops soon.

Libby continues to eat badly and is still so thin. I'm very worried. Also, she's developing a separation anxiety and is destroying things in her room during the day. This doesn't make me any more willing to get back on the road; at least when I'm around, her time in the room is shorter, and of course she's happier when both parents are around.

I felt nauseous and out of sorts for much of the day, and finally just took a long nap. I hate naps, consider them the hallmark of the weak and lazy (despite various evidence that they're good for you, which I am skeptical of), but when I don't feel well, I give in. Now of course I'm not tired, but maybe if I read for a while...
- posted by Diane @ 10:48 PM