The Kid Khronicles #4- Failures In Van Life
As I said inthe installment, The After Party, Arden was doing a rotation in Columbus for three months starting at the beginning of June. Between Family Days and Breaking In Roger, Arden and I had a phone call and she told me that it had been pushed back to the 15th. On Saturday June 13th 2026, Paige and I were at two of her high school friend's (Sophia and Cara’s) joint college graduation party. While there Arden called me. I ignored it because I figured it was about making plans to hang out the following week so I would just call her when I got home. It wasn’t until Kid called me about 12 minutes later that I became a little more intrigued. I texted them both and told them I would call soon.
2 hours later on the phone Arden confirmed that she would be in town the next day. Kid was also coming, but she was only staying the night and she asked if she could stay with us. It turned out that Kid had upgraded her car so that she could do van life for a while. This is something that she had been talking about for at least a year, but it wasn’t something that anyone, including Kid, thought was actually going to happen. She had apparently told me at the wedding, but I really don’t remember that.
Paige had a meeting at Panera on Sunday the 14th at 8:00, and the last time that happened they provided food. I dropped Paige off early so she could talk about becoming a manager before the meeting started, and then I drove to meet Arden and Kid at a local pizza shop called Pizza Primo. I said hi, Kid showed me her set up, we ate, then Kid left because she wanted to watch the sunset at her favorite “thinking spot.”
Arden and I talked for about another 15 minutes before Paige called me to pick her up. After I got off the phone I asked Arden if she wanted to still hang out, and she said that she would like to go on a walk while the sun was still out and so she decided to follow me to Panera. Because I was not at the apartment, or another familiar spot Paige asked me to send my ETA when we left. When I looked at the ETA (9:02), I asked Siri what time the sun set. Siri responded: Sunset will be at 9:02 pm today. I called Arden and she decided that after she saw Paige she would just go to her Airbnb.
Paige and I got home and we waited… and waited and then I checked the time. 10:02. The sun had been set for an hour; something was wrong. I texted Kid and she responded, “ummm, my car is not turning on and my phone is at 2%.” Paige immediately checked her location from when they were roommates, and we ran to the car. She was at a Metro park in Grove City. By the time we got there at 10:20, the park was closed to the public, but a park ranger had left a gate open for us. When we pulled up to the car, Kid was zipping around trying to figure out what she was going to do while the park ranger watched her in awe and confusion.
As Kid signed the papers to keep her car there overnight, she explained that she thought her car was out of gas. We called Luke and he told us that he and Josh had some gas at their place, the 245. We arrived there 15 minutes later, and Josh brought up a gas can. Since the adrenaline was going to keep Kid, Paige and I up, and the boys stay up late anyway we decided to stay over there for a while. “How did I end up here?” Kid said after about 10 minutes, in the middle of a half joking half legitimate, panic attack.
“Hey,” I said, “you're fine, this is a great opportunity! You're going to have so much fun on this road trip! I know you can do it!”
The next day was Paige and my one month wedding anniversary. At about 6:30 Paige and I returned to our apartment after a vet appointment for Charlie, and Arden and Kid were waiting in the parking lot for us. Once we packed up Kid’s stuff we said our goodbyes and got back into our cars. As Paige and I pulled out of our apartment to go to a restaurant, with Kid and Arden in Kid’s car behind us, I felt immense pride. Most of the time I struggle to not see Kid as the 7 year old that she was when I became friends with the Andersons at the end of Miracle Child. But sometimes, when she is doing something new or something doesn’t go to plan I see how much she has actually grown up and I am so proud of who she has become!
To be continued…
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