getting down with the DOT

can i tell you how incredibly impressed i am with the department of transportation folks in VT, MA and NH? can I? just did. yes, between the 4 of us, we cobbled together a route to get me to Holderness in a no-stress, speedy fashion. big breath out. i even got a call back late in the day from VT saying they thought of another route to use, just in case. so all is well in control freak land. it's not like a transatlantic crossing to a new land to live forever. i get that. but what you may not know is that i was a semi-agoraphobic prior to coming to Squam the first year...I was able to go to work, and a few places nearby, but to drive down the thruway to Rochester or Buffalo, or even Cazenovia was sometimes a panic attack in the making. so that is another reason why Squam is so important & special to me...it marks an anniversary of me looking that panic in the face and twisting it's nose till it ran away. i still have my moments, but honestly, think about all the things you would have missed if you had a rising panic/aversion to travel past a certain distance from your home? or even go to church/yoga/birthday parties/dinners. that, in part, is why i am not so hard on myself as i try to quit smoking and haven't quite gotten there. i have accomplished so much in the past few years, and this one niggling thing holds on. i know i will kick it's butt too (no pun intended), but it has not been time yet. very soon though. and so - thank you all for being my personal Mapquests! I WILL be there!