Chapter 2 Go Greyhound!

Okay, so where were we?  Oh yeah, August of 1999.  Almost sounds like a title to a country song, huh?!?  Anyhow, let's go a little before August.  I went to my doctor's appointment and found out what I was having a baby. They also let me know that I was eight weeks along.  Within that week, the baby's father decided to spill the truth about a few things including not wanting nothing to do with me or the baby being that I believe in God.  Like I said, a whole bunch of truth came spilling out.  You want someone to be honest in a matter of seconds or get some vital information, tell 'em you're pregnant and watch how fast things you thought you knew and didn't know come flying out of their mouth. Well around that same time if I remember clearly, I met this guy named 'Blast', which we already know that is not his real name.  Anywho, 'Blast' seemed to be just that -- a blast!  I mean there wasn't anything I couldn't tell him and let's just say he made me feel special.  I do remember that we had long conversations about everything and anything.  So I have something to fess up too...we didn't meet in person at that time.  Yes, thanks to WebTv, I felt I had found my soulmate or at least we had found each other.  We understood each other, (so I thought).  Well I decided one day on a whim that I would go and see this man who has captured my heart so.  So at the time I was about 4 months pregnant and getting ready to embark on a road trip that only one person knew about.

~~Preparing to Depart~~

Now at this time there were just a few good friends that I could call on that would be there for me.  Not too many people knew too much about me.  Those who did, would question the things I did, but they knew no matter what - I can take care of myself.  So, here I am pregnant and getting ready to board the Greyhound Bus to see who I believed was my 'Prince Charming'.

"Hey Tonya, how are you?", I asked with a further question in the back of that one.

"I'm doing great. How are you Lexi?", Tonya asks with a hint of 'If I know you as well as I do, there is something you need...'.

"I'm doing okay, being pregnant and all", we both laugh hard and make a few quick other jokes.  "Are you busy right now, I really need to ask you something?"

Tonya sighs deeply in hopes of it not being too much, but she know me and I never overstep my boundaries. 

"No, I'm not busy right now.  What's up?"

"I'm leaving town for a few days and was wondering if you can give me a ride to the Greyhound Station?", I asked with a little hesitation.

"What day are you leaving and wait, where are you going?"

"I'm leaving next week and I'm just taking a little trip out of state to go and visit a friend.  I'll be sure to call you and let you know that I'm okay, okay?  But can you please give me a lift to the bus station?"

"Sure..." pause, "Who else knows that you're leaving?"

"No one but you and all my utility companies.  I'll be leaving on Thursday at 11:00 AM, is that okay with you?"
With a pause that seemed to last forever to me, Tonya finally answers, but in a very reluctant manner, "Yeah,  that's fine."  With many 'thank you's' and how much I appreciates Tonya's, they carried on a conversation for just a little while longer.  Now I have not yet had a friend like Tonya.  Tonya was a very special friend to me, though sometimes I didn't really felt like I showed enough appreciation to Tonya.  Although she said I did.

***********************

Greyhound Station 

Thursday morning at roughly 7am in the hot month of August, I rolled out of bed and looked down at my protruding abdomen.  "Looks like I swallowed a mini basketball, hahaha', as I laughed and thought to myself.  I scooted to the edge of my bed and looking around at the master bedroom that I decorated with such patience and care.

My bed frame set almost two feet off the ground and is decorated with a royal blue 'princess' flowers duvet cover, which made me feel like a true princess every night I climbed into it and every morning I woke.  The walls were stark white accented with  random pictures that complemented my surroundings.  The nightstands where also stark white with royal blue and chrome decorative accents that seem to make my 'potbelly' mini lamp stick out.  Even though the floors throughout the home was the original wood flooring, which gave the bedroom almost a 'Better Homes and Gardens' feel to it although almost everything was from my former workplace.  After taking in my room before my departure and knowing soon I will return in just a week.  Despite everything in the unknown, I still had the sparkle of adventure in my eyes.  Eager to see another part of the U.S., more importantly, seeing 'Prince Charming' for the first time in person.  I felt the excitement and adrenaline rush through me just then I felt a leg in my abdomen. 

Finally getting to my feet or what I thought was my feet, wobbled into the bathroom, then into the kitchen.  

'I love eating for two! So what are we gonna eat for breakfast, hmm baby in there?', I murmurs to myself.  

Just as I finished my breakfast for two that consisted of scrambled eggs, 2 packs of bacon (Farmer John), hash browns, toast and a two liter of Pepsi, the phone rings.

"Hello?", I mumbled through the phone with a  mouthful of food.

"Hey, It's me Tonya!  How are you feeling this morning?  Sounds like you were eating?", she chuckles and seems to be in high spirits, "You just about ready for your road trip?"

Hurrying to swallow the food and answer her, "Heck yeah!  I was up almost all night packing for this trip and making sure that everything is in order.  Got it done and my bags are by the door.  All I have to do now, cause I just ate, is take a shower and get dressed.  Tonya, I want you to know I really to appreciate what you're doing for me.  I never had a friend like you, thank you!"

"Well girl, you are definitely someone much more different than anyone I have known.  You come with so many surprises, both exciting and scary.  But no matter what, you always find a way to find the fun in it and that is something about you that I just admire!"

Now being pregnant, of course I got all emotional...you know, hormones and all.  Now that the 'chick flick' moment was over, I always had a way to end a conversation on a laughable note.

"Aw, thanks Tonya. Well let me get my protruding belly to the shower as soon as I remember when I last saw my feet! It'll take me about about fifteen minutes to get ready, if I don't have to potty every three minutes."

Both girls broke out in a roar of laughter and hung up their ends of the line.

****** Arriving At Greyhound ******

It's ten-thirty in the morning, when we pull up to the Greyhound Station.  My heart begins to pound out of control from excitement and nervousness.  This is the very first time I have taken a road trip on my on, let alone on Greyhound.  All the other road trips I have went on was usually three or more of us.  Never before now have I ever went alone.  

The station was very small and quaint.  Many passengers waiting for our bus to pull in as I go to the ticket counter to purchase my round trip ticket.  I have never been to a bus depot and it's nothing like I have seen on television or even in my vast imagination.  Tonya helps me with my luggage by helping me write my information on the tags that Greyhound has supplied.  She sits and waits with me as we have light conversation before I leave.

"You call me every chance you get to let me know you're okay.  It makes me nervous that you're travelling alone and pregnant.  Are you sure you're going to be alright?", Tonya says with true concern yet with the firmness of a well rehearsed mother who is seeing her child off for the first time.  How much she cared brought tears to my eyes, but tears of happiness that my friend is really my friend!

"I promise to call you at every stop we make.  If I'm not able to call you because the hour isn't decent, then I will call you the first thing when we stop in the morning.  I seriously thank you so much for everything."

Just then the bus that had my arrival destination pulled, more like jerked into the passenger/luggage area.  We took a long look at each other, hugged tight for a long time, passing back the 'Be careful's', 'I will', 'I promise', 'I know's', etc.  I get on that gray whale of a bus that is supposed to be a metaphor for one of the most prestigious (in my opinion) canines, that actually turned out to be an obese clunker for a vehicle.  I made my way to front/beginning of the middle of the bus and find a seat.  Being that there is no assigned seating on the bus as there is on planes.  No first class, business class or coach.  No in flight or on bus movie or meals.  If you were smart, you packed enough food to last you the trip until or at least until you got to your destination.  Already, even though I took a shower before I left, I began to feel dirty...just by the looks of Moby Hound.

I peer out the window and see Tonya standing there with mixed emotions all over her face.  They seemed to range from excitement to worry to concern to fear to acceptance all at once.  All of a sudden I heard the roar of the engine of the bus start up and the driver yelling out, "Last call for...", I drowned out the rest of his words and looked again out the window to skim the outside audience for Tonya.  I spot her and began to wave slowly which eventually as the bus jerked off into the public streets, became a very fast paced wave and her yelling, "CALL!!!!" and me mouthing back, "I will, I promise!"  Keeping my eyes on her until I couldn't see her anymore, I sat back and slouched into my seat next to a window and a empty seat.  Realizing, with a sigh, "I'm off to another state, on my own.  Lord, please watch over me and get me there and back safely, alive and well and still pregnant, In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."  I began to drift off slowly into a nap and before I knew it we were pulling into the bus depot for Greyhound in Downtown L.A.  I took one good long look around as we had to get off and wait for the overlay, I thought to myself, "Oh my God, this can't still be California.  No way!"  I was now in a part that is less than 30 minutes away from where I reside and seeing the depths of downtown by myself for the first time.  Talk about scared.  Oh how I was!

About two hours later, I hear over the intercom that my bus is reloading and that we are to head to boarding immediately.  I scurry across the floor, get in line behind the passengers that made it before me, show my ticket and find the same seat I was sitting in before we had to unload for the overlay.  Again, the engine roars, but this time the bus smoothly departs from downtown Los Angeles, through the streets of L.A., onto the intertwining lanes of the freeways.  Once again, "I'M OFF!"

Now, it took three days to get to where I was going.  In those three days, I have seen a lot and kept my promise to Tonya and called her every chance I got to let her know that I'm okay and where I was.  It was Texas that took the longest to get through and toughest.  The people seem to break off in 'cliques' or even groups , some people just kept to them self.  With me travelling so far and being pregnant, that alone was a conversation starter.  I have never ate from so many vending machines, so much laughter with people that I knew I would never see again but I would remember.  The bus trip alone was very well worth it.  I was just hoping the trip back wouldn't be so long but just as much fun!  No matter what I was SOOOOO ready to take a bath AND shower!

I was snatched out of my thought by the driver announcing my destination.  I looked around and was able to see everything cause it was still early in the morning when we arrived.  There was plenty of dirt, trees and open land.  The town looked like it was the older sister of Mayberry from the Andy Griffith Show.  I laughed a little out loud and said aloud with a chuckle in my voice, "I'm so in the country, SWEEEET!!!!"  The bus came to a slow but steady stop and lo and behold the hotel I had made reservations to was just next to the bus depot.  The bus depot had to be no larger than a shack.  It felt like I had been warped to a earlier time in life but right here on Earth.

Chapter One...The Beginning (So to speak...)

For most of us, we say the 'beginning' is when we were born. For me, well let's just say that it began 10 years ago. Lessons in life that you'd honestly believe wouldn't happen to you. For me, it did and seems to have an ongoing thing here. You might want to pay attention, there might be some key things that can help you or someone you know.

The life experience I'm getting ready to share with you is of one that happens all the time and some are too weak to know that there is something wrong with that picture. You know something is not right and you know something is wrong, but this can't be happening to you...no, not you. So you think, yet it is. I have endured a lifetime of pain, suffering, let-downs, disappointments and well just plain misery when I met this person. Please be prepared to be shocked and awed. None of what I am about to reveal I intentionally ever wanted to happen but it did and boy, did I learn from it.

~~And We're Off!!!!!~~

Scene set in sunny California, during the summer.  Pregnant and just broke up with the donater of this child I am carrying.  Sitting on my lovely velveteen sofa, playing on WebTv. (Don't think many of you will remember that...lol.)  It's hotter than the Devil's butt on a cool day, more like someone opened the doors to Hell and said it was okay to come out and play.  Here I am 4 months into my first pregnancy and the phone will not stop harassing me with it's, at times, annoying bells, letting me know that there is a possibility that on the other end, someone is trying to get my attention.  Either worth my time or not...at that point I really didn't care.   I just wished it would have stopped it's incessant ringing.  It kept cutting me off my WebTv!!!  Finally, after about an hour of putting a lot of energy to ignore the invention Mr. Bell came up with, I finally answered it.  It was my mother.
"I've been trying to get a hold of you for over an hour", she says with concern on her words, "Are you okay?"
"Yes, I thought you were someone else trying to get a hold of me.  I apologize. What's going on?"
She sighs a sigh of mixed emotions, relief and disappointment almost like I can hear her thoughts.  "Did you go to your appointment today?"
"Not yet, it's not until two o'clock."
"Well do you need a ride or anything?"
"No, I have money to catch the bus and if I need a ride, one of my friends will take me."
"Have you eaten yet?"  Now, mind you, this is her first grandchild and the news of my pregnancy was a whopper to deal with.  She was filled with excitement, worry, anticipation and so many emotions that ANY parent would go through that is expecting their first grandchild.  Considering almost a year before I was told by my doctor that I would not be able to have children, because of a life threatening cyst I had on my left ovary.  Yes, obviously it was removed because there I sat 4 months into my first pregnancy!
"Yes, I've eaten but I'm still hungry", as we both bellowed in laughter.
"Well, alright then, let me know if there is anything you need and I love you."
With our salutations we hung up the phone and continued on our personal way....

Fast forward >>>>>>>>>>
It was August of 1999, that I had decided that I would move and marry the man that I loved and believed loved me.  This is where you need to pay attention...in Chapter 2.