My Thelma and Louise Fantasy Getaway

The Getaway

Jumping in a car, or more precisely, a pick-up truck has been my getaway fantasy for years.

In fact, when my girls were teenagers I used to talk with my friend, Carrie, at night and we’d trade stories about our days: our kids and grand kids, our work and anything else we needed to talk about. If a day was especially tough, one of us would call the other and say, “Hey Thelma, this is Louise. Get the truck. It’s time to get out of here.” That was the signal that one of us was on overload.

From that moment on, the fun began: we fantasized about where we’d go, what we’d bring and how soon we’d be ready to leave.

“Hey, let’s head north towards the redwoods. There are some nice wineries along the way.

Got money?” Thelma asked.

“Yep, and a change of clothes. You never know what we may find along the way,” Louise hollered back.

We had fun imagining ourselves as the characters in the 1980s film, “Thelma and Louise,” who took off in a car on a dangerous and exciting road trip. By the time we had finished swapping our own Thelma and Louise adventures, we’d be hooting and hollering. Whatever got us so upset in the first place was gone.

Sometimes just being able to call and say, “Hey, Louise, this is Thelma,” was all it took for me to feel better. I knew I had a buddy, a truck and a way out all in that one moment. When my kids overheard me having one of these Thelma and Louise conversations, one of them would say, “Mom has lost it again.”

They were just lucky I lost it in a fantasy with Carrie rather than in real life with them.