Story

Welcome to the Land of Liz (LOL)

Once upon a time, in a land far far away (Los Angeles), there lived a woman named Liz. She had all the typical family members....and then some.....a husband, daughter, mother, sister, grandmother, even a great-grandmother. Liz lived a very ordinary life and spent most of her life in greater Los Angeles. She followed in her parent's footsteps, who followed their parent's footsteps, and on and on. One day, Liz decided that she would no longer be part of this continuum and decided to break tradition. The following morning Liz grabbed her husband and child and decided to head for the hills.

At first, they were not sure which direction to head, but the correct path soon revealed itself. Since heading East would lead them into the middle of the desert, this option was out. To the West, there was the ocean....also not a good choice. This really only left 2 options left. Since Liz and her family lived in "The Valley" a great part of their life, and this was in the Southern direction, Liz and her family decided to head North.

"Where are we going mommy?" asked Liz's daughter. "It's not like us to pack up in the middle of the night and take a drive." Liz explained to her daughter what she was trying to attempt and why it had to be done immediately once the decision was made. "But what about my computer? Aren't we bringing it along?" Liz told her daughter that where they would be going there would be no outlets to plug the computer in.

They got into their old pickup truck and started up the highway. It was the beginning of a new life. Where they were going, none of them knew. All they knew is that it wasn't going to be the same thing her mother, grandmother, or any of her other descendants had done. She was going to be proactive. "What's proactive mean mommy?" "Well.........it means that we take care of problems before they begin......that's what we're doing" Liz explained to her daughter.

Liz and her husband drove the whole night. Since their couldn't quite reach the speed limit, they soon found themselves in Fresno California. Realizing that this was NOT the place that they would settle, Liz and her family continued up the road to find their new homestead.

contributed by Steve Hunsader

Deciding that although Fresno was not what they were looking for and new direction was needed, Liz asked Manual for the map.

Looking at the map they soon realized that although they had been using it to get as far as they had, this was not really a map of California but rather a treasure map of sorts. It had the freeway they were on and a few of the offramps, there really was nothing much else on the map except a small dotted line to the right and the note this way to "Paradise".

Realizing that they had gone thus far using the map and Liz being the adventuresome lady she is there was no going back, so she began following the directions to "Paradise" whatever that is.

contributed by Catherine Litten

Waiting for the next family member or friend to continue .... how about you Liz.

Contact Liz Padilla