Retrun to Nebraska City

Gather ‘round everyone, it’s story time! The stories that make it to the blog are only a small portion of what goes on during the trip. If I were to document everything to the finest detail and every story I would need a full day of writing for every day of the trip. For now I will at least play ketchup with this short from Nebraska City that is long overdue.

The Coffee Shop
Jeanna and I were out and about in Nebraska City and decided to make a stop at the coffee shop downtown. Jeanna started sharing my story (which she does a great job of!) to a few teenage girls at the counter. One of them was a girl who does some housekeeping work for Jeanna at the bed and breakfast. The other two, including the girl working, were friends, all 16 year olds. After Jeanna told the story they seemed to be interested and have that teenage girl thing going on, whatever that is, only girls can know. The girl behind the counter was asking me a few questions, so with her interest I went to reach for a card to give her with the web address. I usually keep about 10-20 in my pocket and about 10 in my wallet. It was one of the few times I didn’t have any left on me.

I had just one card left and it was no ordinary card. The card I had was one that was signed by Kelly Clark while at the X-Games in Aspen. For those of you who don’t know who she is, she’s one of the world’s top women snowboarders and an Olympic medalist.

I gave up the card, it was my last one and I couldn’t short the girl of her interest. I handed over the autographed card with a small hint of regret, then I said, “Forget it, someone else may appreciate this more than me.” Well the girl didn’t know who Kelly Clark was, but that’s ok, I told her she can take it as long as she appreciates it. So that’s that.

The next morning I wake up at the bed and breakfast and recall a dream I had the night before. In the dream I end up meeting another teenage girl while out and about in Nebraska City. As I’m talking to her I tell her about my trip and what I’m doing, and she says, “No way! You’re the one doing this?” and she pulls out the autographed Kelly Clark card. “I found this on the ground this morning,” she continued. “Where’d you get that?” I emphasized, as I was devastated! The girl who was supposed to be taking great care of it just threw it out.

Thankfully the last part of the story was a dream. A little later that morning the girl who does work for Jeanna came in and I told her about the dream I had of her friend throwing away my card. She assured me that her friend was taking care of it and looking at it all the time. By giving it to her I think I made her day and that’s all that matters.