ask for forgiveness, not permission

so deciding which day to leave this week has caused a great internal debate. the earliest i could leave would be thursday morning... however, my mom and jack (stepdad) are coming into town this weekend for my mom's horseshow (not exactly sure what she was doing in it--but she's been talking about it for like 2 months now... so i figured it was important i be there) which is saturday night, meaning i can't leave until sunday if i am a good daughter and go. but but but! i just received a phone call from moomers telling me that smokey (her horse) stepped on her foot basically breaking her toes, thus disabling her from being in the horseshow saturday night. yes, i am sad for my mother and her broken toes--i'm not totally heartless!-- but i am excited for what this means: a thursday morning departure date!

first mistake of my great roadtrip adventure: telling my mom. the original plan was to wait to tell her i'm driving to california with rotor as my only companion until i was halfway across the country. this way, when she freaked out, she would have no way of stopping me. but my excitement got the best of me and i told her too soon! her reaction was exactly as i expected: begging and pleading for me not to go. "it's too dangerous for a young girl to travel on her own!"  

"so what, mom? am i supposed to postpone all my dreams in life until i find some prince charming to accompany me?" 

hesitation "no..." (but she's thinking "yes." i know you, mom!!) "but it'd be safer if you had someone with you. even a girl!"

"the beauty of this trip is that i'm going it alone, mom."

"you'll get kidnapped and raped and sold to slave drivers! haven't you seen that movie 'wanted'?" (of course, she was actually referring to the movie 'Taken', but I knew what she meant).

"Yes, but if we're using this movie as a point of reference, do recall that the girl got kidnapped even though she had a friend with her. And she gets rescued in the end--with only a minor drug addiction. See? It'll all work out okay." (alright, not the best way to comfort her). "Look, mom, the point is that something bad can happen no matter where you are or who you're with. I can't live my life out of fear of what could happen. I'll be safe. I'll be smart. It'll all work out in the end."

i did my best to convince her that i'll be okay but to no avail. moomers is a worry wart through and through. angela said i should have waited until i got back to tell her that i went. i'm thinking that was a good idea. damn. anyway, our conversation ended with me telling her that as much as i love her and respect her opinion, we're very different people with different desires, and this is something i want to do. unfortunately for us, i inherited her stubborn gene so my next 36 hours will consist of screening all phone calls as she will likely call me from various unrecognizable lines in a last-ditch effort to convince me to stay. and my mom is one sneaky lady! who knows what excuses she'll come up with to thwart my plans... so until i'm successfully on the road, all calls from unknown numbers will go directly to voicemail.