Yep, home!
In a short while I will start doing the things. Making some cookies, wrapping some presents, finishing up a few projects in the sewing room. For this moment, I am simply savoring the past few days.
Having always had someone or something to be responsible for I've never truly had the space to simply be. To come and go, to explore and be truly spontaneous. I did not expect 2020 to give us that gift. I expected this vacation to be sad, filled with a feeling of loss. The two furthest away cannot come home, they live in one of those states that makes having a life right now impossible. We'd even considered driving out and surprising them, but... the state is making that completely impossible now. So we will have to make due with a phone call for Christmas this year.
The kids closer to home have so much going on in their worlds, so much is changing.
Last week about this time, I decided we were going to follow suit. We'd already decided to drive to deliver gifts in Arkansas and Alabama, it would have been a simple trip filled with highways and knitting. Not much to see when you travel by highway. It's just a channel cut through the vibrant life and made dull. Point A to point B and so on.
I needed something more. Longing for the smell and feel of the ocean air on my face, I somehow decided we needed to add a stop in New Orleans into our little journey, neither of us had ever been so it seemed like a wonderful place to go. Many reroutes later, we are now sitting in back in our own home. Each of us enjoying things that make us feel connected. I am listening to the music of the Godfather drifting up the stairs, as Hubs is engrossed in the latest remake. I am writing and remembering.
I am learning to listen to my inner voice. The one I've always told to shush. The one that practicality and responsibility have told to stop dreaming and be reasonable.
I was tired of reasonable.
2020 has been the longest year, the most exhausting. When you feel deeply a year like this is harsh, too harsh. It has left me drained, with nothing to give. Tired. Mind numb. The joy had been tarnished. I was struggling hard.
A quick stop with family, ironically all us girls and mom were together, usually at least one of us is missing. That was not the case this year. We laughed, chatted, teased. It was so relaxing. The next sister down created the most beautiful ornaments, that I can't wait to put on the tree and she made me an AWESOME bug picture, completely with personalized plates. No one ever makes me gifts and this year my heart is full! I love the treasures that someone took time to create.
Another irony of this tipsy topsy year we are living through. Handmade treasures abound! I even came home to a homemade Christmas card. My heart is full! In fact I have quite a collection of Christmas cards this year, after far too many years with barely any. Future proving past? Has this unplanned slow down for many led to us being able to see the value of before?
After dropping off donuts and gathering a few more hugs for good measure our red sleigh (better known as Hub's truck) whisked us down to New Orleans.
Having never been there and only experiencing it through the news media and others I am not sure what exactly I was expecting. Part of me expected a comparison to my senior high school trip to Spain. And I can't say I was disappointed. Bourbon street was... well... Bourbon street. There was noise, chaos, dirty buildings and streets masked with bright lights to make it appear festive.
I think my favorite part were our early morning walks. In a town that doesn't go to bed until the wee hours, the early morning hours are still and beautiful. We were amazed to see the street cleaners, more like a giant pressure washer, coming through each morning to remove the evidence of the night before. In the wee hours the air was clean, the smells of the city were normal and expected. Hints of coffee and breakfast foods drifted from the cafe's. We walked the almost silent streets, gazing in shop windows, sipping hot chicory lattes. We were blessed to watch the sunrise on the same mighty river that flows so close to our homes. The ships were huge as they made their lumbering way out to sea. The waterfront a place to enjoy.
We discovered alleyways and hidden treasures. A cigar shop that was rolling them right there in town. So many experiences!
We had beignets each morning at Cafe du Monde. So sweet and bad for you and so wonderful at the same time. We watched the birds scurrying about looking for dropped crumbs and listened to the Christmas music being played live out front. We paused to enjoy the art work being hung for sale all around the beautiful Jackson Square.
Two days is simply not enough time. We may find our way back some day, I still want to wander the French Market, visit the plantations, maybe do a ghost tour, listen to the live music while sipping an adult beverage. There was simply too much to absorb in a few short days. Too many things we wanted to experience. It felt like we were dipping our toes in, when we truly wanted to submerge ourselves. So much history and character left untapped.
Leaving was tough, with so many things left to explore.
I charted our course to Birmingham via the seashore. I might have taken us through some extremely questionable areas. We were saddened to see the destruction from hurricanes that still lingers, some of it no doubt from Katrina. In some cases beautiful homes stood beside water destroyed structures. It was surreal.
Bayou's, marshes, causeways, and more of the same, all breathtakingly beautiful. Trees bare for the winter decorated with long strands of Spanish moss reminded me so much living in Charleston. When we had no money and I used that moss to create Christmas gifts for family and friends. The harshness of the sea softened in unexpected ways and places.
We traveled almost 100 miles or so down the sea shore. Enjoyed a cold lunch sitting at an outside cafe watching the waves beating on the shoreline. An occasional para-sail coming into view before dumping it's hapless rider into the sea. We walked along the coast. Both of us longing to have the sand between our toes, but not willing to risk the hypothermia that might come with the long missed experience. We had to enjoy the soft white sands of the gulf running through our fingers instead. Hubs was brave enough to stick his fingers in the water, I was not. It was awfully cold to me, from the splashes from the waves.
Hours and hundreds of miles later we arrived in Birmingham. Our final family stop before the sleigh would carry us back to our home. It was a breakfast filled with questions, snuggles from Hub's only great nephew, selfies and laughter. We'd interrupted a busy weekend for them, but we'd all found a moment for family. The look on the little guys' face when he got a piece of coal (really its soap) to find out mom had been telling him that was all he was getting for Christmas, priceless is an understatement.
While in New Orleans I had my palm read - I mean would anyone expect me of all people not to? Very little of what she said surprised me, it was all things that my heart already knew. She told me that I have met my soulmate, I didn't need anyone to tell me that. Who else would put up with my special brand of crazy and keep smiling? If driving 1722 miles and visiting all those places in 5 days doesn't prove how compatible we are I simply don't know what does.
With our world being controlled in so many ways, it was liberating and wonderful to simply live. I don't want to be controlled. Never have. And the joy of simply going where our hearts lead us, was incredible.
We've returned home, it is now time to enjoy the family here at home. Who knows what other memories are waiting to be made?
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