Update: Where is Wyoming?

when is the last time YOU took a U.S.A. geography quiz?

I told this story tonight in WEAIA writing group¹, and it was so funny and so embarrassing, I feel it must be shared with a wider audience. I hadn’t laughed that hard in long time. It was a story I was keeping to myself for a few weeks, and as I heard myself say it out loud, it was just absurd.

I was this years old when I learned that Wyoming is not to the right (east) of Oklahoma.

There is no good explanation for this. My parents visited Yellowstone National Park in 1985 and that far away place has been locked into a 5-year-old’s understanding of America since then. They returned with a child-size Native American headdress and drum. (It was the 80s. )

It wasn’t until I visited my friend and fellow-NPE, Sara, at her vintage shop in Long Beach that I discovered how much I don’t know about the geography of this great nation. She asked about the road trip, and I told her the truth: I’m very overwhelmed and probably should look at a map. There, on the wall of her cute vintage shop, surrounded by mid-century glassware, was a MAP. A lot has changed since JKF and Jackie O, but not the location of Wyoming. And Ohio! It’s practically in New England, did you know that?

Since then, I am proud to share that I took out my map of the U.S.A here at home, pinned it to a bulletin board, and the road trip is that.much.more.planned. There is a pin in Oklahoma, and a pin in Wyoming; these states are not next to each other. WHO KNEW?!

actual photo of actual map in my actual kitchen.

In a moment of map-inspired enthusiasm, I emailed Jason and Miguel of Season 2. You may remember our first road trip, from eastside Los Angeles to westside Los Angeles in 2022 for lunch with Miguel. Their response to my email was an enthusiastic yes. Wahoo!

ERPRT’s First Stop: Miguel’s tri-trip² in Central California. We’re going to need to eat, and I would love to find out how this father-son relationship has evolved since their DNA-Discovery in 2019.

I’m researching RV-rentals, and experiencing massive waves of anxiety about how we’re going to pull this off, but I keep embracing my own determination to do so. Thank you for all your support, friends, past present and future.

Next Substack: Sponsors!

-Eve, February 2024

p.s. please click on the heart below to “like” this missive <3

1. our first road trip ^

Thanks for following along and believing in the road trip. As promised, this substack is divided into two experiences. Beyond the paywall below, subscribers will find my deeper process writing, based on Who Even Am I Anymore. If you’re interested in my writing process group, hosted Thursdays with Hiraeth Hope & Healing, visit this link here.

If you’ve listened to the podcast and are looking for a way to support my mission, please consider subscribing, or sharing this with someone you know.

---

Each Thursday 3:30-5:30 Pacific, I facilitate 8-week Therapeutic Process Writing Group for members of the DNA-Discovery and Adoption communities on zoom. I hope you will consider joining us. For more info, visit my co-facilitators and host Hiraeth Hope & Healing.

Yes our family is casually vegetarian, but when someone has tri-tip in their email handle, we eat it.

---

2. **********

Who Even Am I Anymore

page 10. Start at the beginning: What Happened?

I set the perfume bottle on my table at the pub. It was the scent of my 20s, a decade of massive transformation, seductive and care-free, floral and delicious. The scent of becoming.

definitely wearing the perfume on my 27th birthday at Velvet Margarita in Hollywood; I had been an LA resident for 7 months.

An hour earlier, I was amazed and tickled to see it on the counter at a local massage spa. Paying fifty dollars for a single ounce, I thought it must be a sign. Of what, I wasn’t sure, but it felt right.