That’s my ex-wife from our trip to Ohio, looking as if
she’s actually enjoying herself. Do sit and take a look
at how she’s smiling – and yes, that’s a cornfield behind
her. And more cornfields. Honestly, who goes to
Ohio for a vacation? Especially people like us, from
Los Angeles? There is more to do in my zip code than
in all of Ohio. But one day she came up to me while
I was having my coffee and reading the paper about
young and spoiled superstars and she said, Martin, let’s
go to Ohio. I said, what? Why? What’s there? Is that
even in America? Val just smiled and said, I want to
go, Martin. And mind you, what Val wanted, Val always
got. She suddenly wanted to go to Ohio, wherever
that was, so we went to Ohio. It was late August. I had to
take time off from the office and Val didn’t have to
be back at the school until September, and we had no
kids – I didn’t want any and that’s why we’re no
longer together. But that’s neither here nor there, I
know. Yes. So. Ohio. Funny story, we almost didn’t
make it there because somewhere in our planning I
got it confused with Iowa and ended up booking two
tickets to Idaho. When I told Val she laughed – I
never use the word pretty but she had the prettiest
laugh I know and there’s no other way to describe
it. Anyway we eventually made it to this place that’s
nothing like what we were used to. I was born and
raised in California, all within twenty minutes in
all possible directions of downtown. Val went to
college in Washington and that was the farthest she
had ever been from her parents’ little white house in
San Gabriel Valley. We didn’t book a tour of Ohio or
anything like that. We just took a plane and we got there
and I said, okay, we’re here in Iowa – I mean Ohio – so
now what? Val smiled her pretty smile and we got a
car and started driving down Ohio as if we had any
particular place to go. We had no idea! We didn’t know
anyone in Ohio, there was no one we had to visit. We
just drove and drove as if we hadn’t done enough of
driving back home. We didn’t have any CDs, so
we turned on the radio. All stations were country
music! Once in a while we’d find a song we’ve actually
heard before, and we’d try to sing along. Val rolled
down the window and let her pretty brown hair catch
the wind as we sang, and that’s when I took this picture,
with one hand on the wheel and both eyes on her. She
laughed and said, Martin, that’s dangerous, don’t do
that! And I replied, it’s fine, there’s no other car on
this road anyway. Val pushed up her large sunglasses on
her pretty little nose, grinned at me, and she yelled back,
through the wind and the country music on the radio,
Martin, I am having the time of my life! And come to
think of it now, although we were in Ohio, I think I
meant it when I grinned back and told her, me too.
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