Leavin' on a Jet Plane

Grant County Journal
Leavin’ on a Jet Plane
March 28, 2011
Written by Janet Warren
Woo hoo! I met my goal last week. I actually told a story in less than 1,000 words. I have been writing this column for seven months now, and last week’s column at 878 words was the first time it printed above the crease in the newspaper. Now when you read my columns and they are above the crease, you can cheer my victory! I think my problem is that I don’t write like a journalist—concise and to the point. I write more like a novelist—slowly meandering, stopping every once in a while to get a cool drink and describing the flowers while I am there. But I have really enjoyed the journey, and I hope you have too.
I’m going away for awhile. Not to a quiet, padded room somewhere, but to my daughter’s house in Chandler, Arizona. She is having our first granddaughter and the C-section is scheduled for April 5. I’m going a week early so she can get a little rest before the big day. Almost three years ago, I traveled to Ann Arbor, Michigan, when she gave birth to our twin grandsons, Seth and Noah. They are causing a bit of a ruckus these days. I have a feeling they are sensing the world as they know it is about to change.
Sometimes I begin to feel isolated in Ephrata. My family is too far away to hop in a car and go for a visit. But, I can hop on a plane and be in Arizona in less time than it takes for me to drive to the Spokane Airport, check my bags and have the full-body scan at the security checkpoint. Of course, the twins think I live at the Phoenix airport and wonder why I don’t visit more often when it only takes a half an hour to pick me up.
I was explaining to a gentleman that I would be sending in my columns from Arizona for the next few weeks and mentioned I’d be sure to send a picture of our new granddaughter. It was really funny the way he started back pedaling. “Oh, that’s not really necessary,” he stammered. I finally figured it out. He thought I was one of THOSE grandparents—the ones who brag about how beautiful and smart their grandchildren are. Believe me, I will not bore you with the run-of-the-mill antics of my grandsons, or how the new granddaughter is sleeping through the night at one week old.
I suppose I could have hung a Gone Fishin’ sign on my column for the next few weeks, but I thought you might like a taste of Arizona. Thanks to the magic of the internet, I can send in columns from anywhere. I was there in November and there are so many places I want to visit—the Superstition Mountains for starters. The first time I visited Phoenix, I was taken aback that there are such beautiful wild-looking mountains there. I was expecting flat, dry land. The sight of palm trees up against a mountain range during sunset was really unusual. I’ll talk about the cacti and the other vegetation that grows in the Phoenix area because that always interests me. Last time I was there, I picked a few pods off a mesquite tree and then figured out what they were on the internet. Some of the crops I saw growing I had never seen before, so I did some research and found out it was sorghum.
And as for the pictures—I’m sure I’ll send a picture of the new baby. I mean, what kind of grandma would I be if I didn’t take advantage of having a column in a newspaper where I can show a picture of my granddaughter to thousands of people? And I might tell a story or two about the twins, but I promise they won’t be ordinary ones like every grandparent tells. Did I mention both of them are geniuses?
680 words! Another one above the crease!