Seeing as how I am going to be headed West in less than 10 days, I figured that today would be a date-with-Indy day. Let's just make this clear: It's never very romantic, my dates with Indy. It's Dutch style all the way. There's no flowers unless I buy them. And there's sure as heck no kissing--I love Indy, but even I have my limits.
There is, however, a lot of driving. Really, date-with-Indy is just a bunch of errands, with some detours in the really classy areas, just to give it a glamorous feel. And usually Indy and I have this tradition where I'll get lost on the date, at least once. Indy likes to produce a lot of obstacles for us...it doesn't like me too getting close, you see, so there's usually a lot of dead-ends, detours, road-closures, and roads that abruptly change directions and end in Broad Ripple Canal. What can I say? Indy likes to keep the spice in our relationship. Today's date-with-Indy typical: a run to Staples for more boxes, and I decided to spend a little time at the Humane Society, getting some quality time with some little purr-balls. Top it off with some picture-taking in Meridian Kessler, and sha-zam! Another date with Indy, happily completed.
The detour I took today, in my quest for the Humane Society, directed me into an area I had never ventured before: just your standard lower-middle-class neighborhood, with some small older houses, shabby but still pretty, set amidst the lush greenery that I have not yet learned to associate with the Midwest summers. It wasn't nearly as glamorous as Meridian-Kessler, but somehow so much more...real. I think, whenever I remember the Midwest and Indy, I will remember that humble, sweet little area first. It was honest, unpretentious, and yet proud.
