ok here's a wild development. i've become a door-dash driver. financial desperation set in when we noticed we were spending more supporting one son's extra house than we actually made every month, so i went back to work.

and much to my surprise, i love it. there are several reasons. first is that building frustration and anxiety over vast spending of money we didn't have was driving me crazy. we were running through our retirements and nest eggs and all in the hopes that we could get out of raising these last kids ok (no easy way out, unfortunately). now i'm doing something about it. having my own income gives me a little autonomy and a much better feeling day-in day-out of having some control of my destiny. i feel young again.

that's the second reason; i'm connected to my youthful, live-for-the-moment traveling days, when i might go here or there at any given moment, and i feel really alive with all the choices. i can travel more or i can stop. there are benefits to each. i am making money traveling. i see the city and at the same time, just pass through it.

there's this little town near here, knoxville. door dash keeps sending me out there. i have a kind of fascination with the smaller towns and they are definitely different from galesburg. in galesburg it's no big surprise when someone doesn't know me. in knoxville they just kind of don't believe it. it's interesting. i'm seeing some farm country on the trips between towns and i like that too. i like getting out there and seeing people, if nothing else.

third reason: it's just about right for amount of human interaction. i can talk more if i like someone. they often are avoiding me (leave it at my door) and i don't blame them. the workers in the fast-food places are all interesting too but i say very little to them besides thank-you-ma'am (ma'am & sir are somewhat rare here but i just came up from the south where they're not). a slice of life. i'm in a lot of places in any given day.

it's life - a rich tapestry. the brick streets are a good drum solo.