Road Trip'd

   Nevi had been having a really hard time dealing with life lately. She had been suffering from night terrors and feeling completely isolated. She was on a mission in some rural part of Florida, completely surrounded by guys. She sent numerous texts to Cali and me saying how depressed she was. We began to worry. Needless to say, she needed a friend!

  Cali and I had a day off together and Nevi was only a couple hours away so, we decided to take a road trip. We left the kids with their dads and hit the road around 6am the next morning. It had been a while since we had been able to spend time together without our kids so, Cali and I we were excited for the drive alone. It had also been months since either of us had seen Nevi which built up the anticipation even more. We were like kids ecstatic for Disneyland!

  On our way, we took a highway neither one of us had been on before. The things we saw were quite entertaining. Out of no where, the speed limit dropped from 75 to 35 miles per hour. This "town" we passed through, was about 8 buildings long. On one side of the road, was houses. Mostly run-down and broken. On the other side, was a general store, a "family fun" building (which looked like it hasn't been fun for decades), a rock store (yes to buy rocks), a burger joint, a gas station and a couple buildings that couldn't be deciphered. It was like a funny scene from a movie. We felt like we may have gotten ourselves lost. There wasn't a person to be seen! 

  The next thing we knew, we were in the middle of absolute no where! Just landscape all around us. I said to Cali, "Dude, I feel like we are in the movie The Hills Have Eyes!" She says, "I know right! That's exactly what I was just thinking!" Just then, the universe agreed with us. We passed a sign that read "3 Slashes Rd." We both freaked out! I sped up to get as far away from there as possible.

  After passing through another semi-deserted "town" and over countless hills, civilization appeared ahead! We called Nevi to make sure she was awake. Even though my call woke her up, her voice was full of excitement to see us. After I hung up the phone, Cali asked, "Ari, you know what I was just thinking?" Immediately knowing what she was thinking, I replied, "It would be awesome if we could make it to the beach?" "Yes!", she exclaimed. We decided to Google beaches in an attempt to find one close. We were limited on time so we hadn't planned for that. We also weren't going to get our hopes up. We were shocked to learn there was a beach only 20 miles away! We wanted to surprise Nevi, so when we picked her up we told her to get in, buckle up and enjoy the ride. There was no set plan so she didn't think much of our demeanor. We cranked the tunes and hit the road again. Cali and I were practically jumping out of our skin! We wanted so badly to see the water, but also knew how much it would mean to Nevi and help her release stress. 

  The road was doing a great job of not giving away our surprise. There was land all around us and mountains on the horizon. Our GPS told us we would arrive in about 15 minutes and the beach would be on our right. However, our excitement quickly turned into unease. To the right, we noticed hills forming in the distance. Cali and I looked at each other, confused. She whispered to me, "Um, Ari? How is there a beach on the right when we can see hills?" I shrugged. The GPS had us on one highway the whole time so it wasn't as if we took a wrong turn. That's when Nevi asked, "Hey where are we going? I'm starving!" Cali replied, "We'll there should be food were we are going." I giggled, shook my head and thought to myself, "We HOPE there is food where we are going" there was no other cars on the road, no buildings, no people. 
  When our GPS told us we arrived at our location, we all sat there in shock! The most shocked was Nevi. "You guys came all the way out here, picked me up just to bring me to a ghost town?" She asked. All Cali and I could do was laugh. The sign on the road was so worn by weather and faded by the sun, that all we could make out was "BEACHTOWN." False advertising at its finest. We explained to Nevi that we had good intentions. We knew it would help and that she would love going to the beach. We blamed Google for bringing us to this ghost town with a lake.
  We decided to drive closer to the water. While driving slow, we saw broken down homes and dilapidated old cars. Not a person in sight. Nevi looked out the window and in a shaky, nervous voice said "Wow, vultures." We all busted out in laughter. Even with our somewhat scared moods, we decided to get out of the car when we saw the stair case leading up to the water. The stair case was warped wood and missing a step. The closer we got to the water, the more we could smell it. It wasn't the soft, salty scent of the ocean we longed for, however. It was a smell of funk. Similar to that of sewage.
  After only spending a few minutes at this make-shift, imaginary ocean, all of our stomachs were growling. We spent the rest of the afternoon eating lunch, doing a little shopping, drinking coffee and having some much needed girl talk.
  Honestly, even though it was pretty much the opposite of what we were looking for, we were happy. We had fun. We were grateful to be together. We were experienced something new (and also something we never wanted to experience again). We took a risk. We had an adventure that we can always look back on with joy in our hearts.
  We are so blessed to have each other. I love Nevi. She is beautiful, strong, brave, crazy, silly, fills any room with light and puts a smile on every one's face. Cali is an amazing woman! She's seen struggles neither Nevi, nor myself have seen. She remains positive through it all. She's gorgeous, smart, articulate and a wonderful mother. Me? I'm the big sister. We notice quite often, that's the role I take. Even though I am the oldest (not by much, let's not get crazy), I look up to those two. They are my role models. They bring out the best in me. I am blessed to have them.


Who is Ari? She's a woman...