Then off to Ohio: Part Dos

After my few days exploring Chicago, though I would've liked to have stayed longer, I flew to Pittsburgh which was only an hour drive for Meeshie who lives in Ohio. Meeshie was my dormmate in Teach For America for our hell-month in Houston so needless to say we share a special bond. She became my closest friend in Texas and I lived for several weeks while TFA was apparently trying to get me interviews living on a blow-up air mattress on the floor of a house she was renting with her then-fiance. Meeshie and I went through hell and a hurricane (literally, it was Hurricane Dolly) together. And she's not had an easy few years in her work or personal life, so when I realized I had an airline credit that would make my ticket only about $40 to see her, I hopped on it.

The last time I visited Meeshie was last April when I got work to send me to an event in San Antonio then rented a car to drive back down to the Rio Grande Valley to visit TFA friends, mainly Meeshie. That was an incredibly hard trip for a number of reasons (Dan and I were about to break up and he was being a total asshole, I still had some guilt for leaving, I wasn't sure how I'd be received by my former "friends") but moreso because the people I cared about most, Jenna and Meeshie, seemed to be doing so poorly and both cried at least once saying how much they missed me and how I was their best friend down there. So... although Meeshie is back in SE Ohio where she was raised, things have not been all roses, nor are they currently. From what I can tell, it's pretty... high school. Meeshie's friends, from her descriptions, seem pretty immature and territorial (oh no you didn't, that is MY man) and close-minded. She actually warned me that there was a cute black guy that she sees sometimes but she can never talk to him because all the white dudes in the bar would kick his ass. Why, I naively wonder. Because he'd be trying to take one of their white girls. That doesn't make any sense. That's just how it is.

I also got to see my sweet Dolly, a stray that I found all alone and with every rib visible out in the fields after Hurricane Dolly. My friend David and I were driving around and found her. She ran right up to me and gave me kisses as soon as I got out of the truck and I just felt so sorry for her. I've never seen so many ticks and fleas and bugs as I did on Dolly as we tried to clean her up at Meeshie's house. Meeshie thinks she's a pit/boxer mix which apparently are bred a lot on the border for illegal dog fights. Dolly also has a lot of scar tissue and is super timid so Meeshie thinks she was likely a fighter and whatever puppies she'd had too. Poor thing. She's absolutely the sweetest dog ever though. If I could've taken her back to Oregon, I would've.

So there's a lot of drama I could mention. But I'll spare everyone (including Meeshie if she reads this) the drama and just say it was interesting. Biggest impressions:
1- looks like the southern Willamette Valley but without evergreens and with much more humidity, sorry didn't take many pics as most of it I saw while in the passenger seat
2- fireflies = awesome, I think they are so cool,
3- drive-in movie theaters = also awesome, especially with the warm nights, that's how we spent the actual Fourth (watched fireworks Sat night, the night before)
4- Toronto OH does have a pretty good fireworks show for being a town of only 2,000. I'd say it compares to Bend. But whoa, talk about being in Small Town USA for the Fourth. Let me say upfront I'm not big on the Fourth. I'm not big on patriotism and making a big show of it. I'm thankfully for where I live and my opportunities. I realize it's better than a lot of other places in the world. But I feel like a lot of patriotism is just propaganda. So yeh... it rivaled the Fourth parade I was in one year in Eagle Point (Richard's mom was the organizer and we got to drive the convertible with the county commissioner... oohhhh). Lots o' patriotism. Fun.
5- everyone smokes. At least everyone Meeshie hangs out with. How can people do that to themselves? The last night there I was about to freak out in this tiny bar w/o a/c as they just took turns, every few minutes someone lighting up.

This is the not so beautiful part of the river just down from some steel mills. Very blue collar. You can't see the dead fish bobbing on the surface in this picture. Lovely.


Well at least it was an adventure and I got to honor my friendship by going that extra hundreds of miles :-)