Part I of Luke’s birthday kidnapping celebration
We hopped in luke’s truck and headed towards the setting sun. Luke wasn’t super thrilled at the beginning (his back was seizing up and his early start to the day made for a sleepy beginning to our trip… he also claimed to not like surprises) ..who doesn’t like surprises? 
When he could go no further we wandered down a gravel road off the highway to find a small cemetery. We walked around and discussed future baby names from tombstones. Surprisingly one of the more obscure names we had added to the list that week was housed on one of the faded rocks. <3 a sign?
As the sun went down we entered into Omaha on empty stomachs. A quick call out to facebook friends directed us to M’s Pub a nice pub with excellent dishes and various price ranges to accommodate the thinner wallets vs celebratory ones. We ate like kings and queens and booked a hotel room via expedia while we waited for our check (i didn’t do a lot of planning prior to the trip). This booking seemed to go smoothly until we rolled up to our home for the evening. Tucked in around run down homes with broken and boarded up windows. Patrons outside chain smoking and a woman repeating “we only got smoking rooms left” over and over to us as we checked in….it was late…we were tired…so we took it. As we walked along the corridors counting numbers my eyes began to sting and my throat burn..I held my breath picking up my pace until finally the numbers on the door matched those on the keycard. Bursting in through the door we went directly to the window….the window that did not to open up. Conscience of bare feet and the sheets on the beds we slept restlessly — i, with a bandana around my face. We woke with the sun and the sky was on fire. it was beautiful. “happy 35th birthday” i exclaimed (more than a few times). Prepared for the journey to the elevator I took a deep breath and exited our hotel room. We found our way standing impatiently inside the elevator waiting for the doors to close…they wouldn’t…we stood awkwardly..awkwardness turned to unease. a fellow tenant heard our nervous giggles and came from around the corner quickly jamming the doors with the palm of her hand until they closed between us.
We found a coffee shop opening up soon so we walked around the block in which it was located. I had never been to the Slow Down in omaha, but it’s the go-to venue for indie bands traveling through the area it seems. Luke got his double shot of espresso and we arrived comfortably on time to the airport…good thing because note to those traveling …I had used my maiden name to purchase the plane tickets because i have yet to update my bank, but my married name is on my i.d. now….I kept trying to scan my credit card, with no luck…the two attendants were swamped with all the other passengers and i was stuck standing at the self check in without a way to pull up our tickets…..after a good 30 minutes of others cutting in front of us we finally got the attention of someone who quickly asked if luke had a credit card with our last name…you see.. the credit card is only used to pull the name up so it doesn’t have to be the one you purchased a ticket with. AH! frustration quickly dissolved to gratitude for this new found knowledge and we were on our way to opting out of security… “WOAH” “HELLO” you’re totally touching my privates…the little tiny human growing inside of me doesn’t really need to be subjected to any more radiation then what my cell phone and computers give off so i’ll take it, but “woah” & “hello” lady i don’t know.
our trip started out a bit bumpy, but it was soon to get much much better!
<3