U is for unusual and unique

Yesterday, as I was traveling to San Diego, I was thinking about the letter "U." What U word would I use for a blog post? I was thinking about that while I was traveling on a cross-country flight, from Atlanta to San Diego. Maybe I wasn't thinking too hard on that flight. I didn't just have an airplane seat; I had a whole entertainment center. There was a screen in front of me, and I had entertainment choices, which included music, movies, and games. It also included a flight tracker. At any point, I could see exactly where I was flying. In other words, I was flying over a map. Well, in the flight tracker, I was flying over a map. I guess that, in real life (which is not as entertaining as a simulated flight tracker), I was flying over mountains, valleys, rivers, and desert, as opposed to a map with clearly defined state boundaries.

I listened to music.

Or, since I was thinking about the letter "u," that was mUsic. Then I started watching movies. One had too much violence and it was making me squeamish so I gave up on that. Another one seemed kind of disjointed and my attention span died. Then I found "Under the Tuscan Sun," starring Diane Lane. Well, the word "Under" starts with the letter "U," so that's pretty good.

"Under the Tuscan Sun" is based on the memoir of writer Frances Mayes, who impulsively bought a villa in Tuscany, while she was on a tour. She had just gotten divorced and her friends did this intervention that involved sending her to Italy for a tour. She suddenly got off of the tour when she saw this villa for sale. The villa was in need of massive renovations, and the story is about how the villa was restored.  Along the way, spiders and snakes popped out from where they were least expected, which was scream worthy. Young people fell in love. People got together in big groups to eat luscious Italian food and drink delicious wines. In other words, life happened. While the villa was being restored, Frances was able to restore and heal herself.

Today, I started thinking about the letter U again... and, all of a sudden, there it was... staring me in the face.

After lunch with my lovely California family, I saw the most amazing sight. It was a life sized chessboard... and people were walking around the chessboard, moving pieces. I could hardly believe my eyes.

That chessboard was unusual and unique. How do you like that? Two words that begin with the letter U.