It seems that mother nature heard my whining and summoned up a beautiful breeze from the south. It's gonna still be blistering hot, normal for this time of year. And muggy and the Midwest are pretty much the same words in late July. But right now, it's beautiful! The breeze is blowing, there is almost no humidity and I am sitting in the treetop garden enjoying my coffee. As I sit here looking around I see a few more things that need to be harvested before the heat sets in, but for this quiet moment in time. I'm enjoying it.
The critters in the woods are just starting to wake up, there is that soft buzzing of bugs surrounding me. I've heard a few birds chirping and calling their families. And one of my hummingbirds has already been by, checking out the flowers.
It's gonna be the start of a couple of busy weeks. I made an impulse decision a week ago, at first I was super apprehensive about it. But now... well a week later, with most of the details settled, I am starting to feel excited. My mom has been supposed to take a trip home to Pennsylvania for a hot minute now. She got I'll the first time and we were coming up on the deadline to use her plane tickets to get her there. One thing led to another and somehow I decided after 27 years, that it was time to go home too. Next month, Mom and I are flying home for a whole 9 days. I can't say I have gone anywhere, except to Europe in 2012 and taking care of mom when she'd had a medical procedure about 7 years ago, for a whole 9 days! And I can honestly say, that I have never been away from Hubs for that long.
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| hello sweet friend... welcome to the garden |
But... here we are. The last time I was back was so traumatic that I have seriously avoided it. I had been trying to get home before my Grammie passed away, she was still alive when I had left Germany. Sadly, she passed away while I was still somewhere across the Atlantic ocean and I arrived in time for her funeral. I have avoided Pennsylvania since then.
And I rarely fly, so... we are just going all out of my comfort zone. I have to have faith nothing happens to my Hubs or Pups while I am gone, I have to leave them all. I have to fly and rent a car... and drive in unfamiliar areas in an unfamiliar car. None of these things are in my top 10 list of things to do on a regular basis. A flight is only 1.5 hours, driving is 10. Seems like a no brainer.
As this week begins, I have things that are home and garden related to tackle. I have a quilt to finish up so that I can send it south with my brother in law when he takes mom back down to Arkansas. I need to do grown up stuff like getting a Real ID, so they will let me on the plane. It took me all of 15 minutes to gather everything so I am not sure why folks are freaking out about doing stuff like that. Would have been much easier if I hadn't let my passport expire, but honestly, I don't need it anymore, so why keep spending the money. I wonder how many people in this country, or any country for that matter never even get a passport?
Each morning I wake up a bit more excited for the trip. After speaking with my aunt for a bit yesterday, I can't wait to see what my cousin has in mind. The trip is more for mom than me. No one back home really knows me anymore. Although I have stayed close to my cousin and my one aunt, and I am excited to see what kind of mischief we can get into. I love them all, but I don't really chat with them much. And the bonus is that my aunt lives on a farm. You know this girl is gonna be loving life.
I will still spend a good deal of time in the city with the rest of the family, but I will spend more time outside of the busyness.
It will be strange to be so far from home for so long. Although, I know that it will pass in the blink of an eye. It's the first time mom and I have ever gone on a solo trip, we will see so much family, hopefully she will get to see some of her dearest friends from childhood. She will spend lots of time with her little brother, she needs it as much as he does, even if she won't admit it. We'll buy chocolate, the ones that connect us so hard to our childhoods, (my Hubs and grands definitely will be waiting for that to come home). I will explore places that I haven't seen in almost 3 decades, maybe longer. We'll visit graves and pay respect, but mostly spend time with those that are here. I've a firm belief that cemeteries are simply for remembering, as our loved ones are not there.
Well, I can sit here all day and enjoy this breeze and daydream about the journey ahead. But the humidity is picking up as nature is waking up. I need to finish watering and head inside. I need to finish Hubs' sweater today and then load that quilt. So much to do...
I truly love my life!
take care, stay cool, drink LOTS of water,
much love, b
I love our life too! Being apart for 9 days will be hard at best. This will be the longest we've been apart since 2003. Good BLOG as always. Also, as always, 381+!
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