Peculiar Journies.....

I've put on a lot of miles since starting this blog, but except for the rare emergency run-and-get-someone-who-brokedown-someplace I've not really had many solo trips.  But right now I'm in the middle of a trip to California to visit Citygirl, going it alone. 

I think the last time I flew without a child was in 1983, for a medical school interview, although technically Babygirl WAS 18 when we flew to Austin last year, but....you know what I mean.  I see parents with tiny babies in the airports and I think of flying by to Pakistan when Citygirl was 6 months old:  THAT was an adventure!

But this trip so far?  Well....

I've driven the Northeast Extension of the PA Turnpike so many times in the last 7 years I could likely do it in my sleep.  I prefer daylight, but last night I left home about 6:30, so I hit twilight in the Poconos, in the eternal construction. I was traveling about 74 MPH (speed limit is 70, so don't judge to harshly LOL) in the slow lane with an 18-wheeler passing me on the left, curving with the road to the left, when I spotted one of those HUGE tire chunks that are all over the side of highways.  This was full-width, full depth, and absolutely 100% unavoidable due to the lack of available shoulder space on the right.

I aimed my tires for either side of it and hoped I'd clear it.

To judge by the almighty scrape and rattle, clearance was an issue, but i didn't hit it with my tires, so the car trajectory stayed stable.  And then......nothing else happened.  No shimmy, no rattles, no smells, no warning bells or whistles, nothing.

I pulled off at the next exit and crawled around under the car with a flashlight and couldn't see any marks at all.  Phew!

Airport stuff in Philly this morning was a breeze, and we arrived in LA with no problems. 

I went to my next departure gate (an entire 15 steps away) showed them the boarding pass, I was issued right before I got on my plane in Philly, and had THIS bizarre conversation:

Me:  "Is this the gate for this flight in 3 hours?"

Agent:  "Oh, MY! This was issued so LONG ago! You should have called in case things changed!"

Me: "I just got this pass a few hours ago in Philadelphia."

Agent: "But that's clear on the other side of the COUNTRY!" 

Yes.  Yes it is.  That's what happens when people get into airplanes, and land in major airports, but it seems silly to explain that to someone who WORKS in a major airport, really. But she's clearly convinced that I am unaware of all this, so I carry on.

Me:  "So the gate has been changed?"

Agent, checking computer:  "No, this is the right gate."

Me: (Internal voice, "What the f*** just happened?") Polite big girl voice:  "Thank you."

I've been up now for almost 12 hours, had about 4 hours of sleep for each of 2 nights in a row, and I can't WAIT for the next leg of this journey.  On to San Francisco!

DeeDee

We Have a Lot of Memories.....

I realized this year that we've been going to Bethany Beach in Delaware for 20 years now.  Well, we began in 1998, and missed one or two due to Babygirl's illnesses, but still.....

The majority of those years we've rented the same house.  Some years we've switched out because we couldn't plan ahead, didn't have as much cash, or didn't have as many people, but this year we had "the house" - the one with the under-the-eaves room with 4 single beds where all the girls slept when they were little. 

Except.

All those girls have grown up. And the ones who came on vacation with us all have BOYS.

Not that there's anything wrong with that! I'm just accustomed to girls. (And by the way,  I discovered I rather like boys.  Not as whiny or sneaky as girls, at least based on this limited exposure.)

Boys (big and small) seemed more fascinated by historical outings, generally.  And they loved looking for crabs in the shallow water, and I BIG granny points when I picked up a 12 inch horseshoe crab out of the water.  "Is THAT ALIVE?!?!?!?"  "Sure. Wanna hold it?"  Universal negative responses LOL.

An awesomely funny moment when a grandson shouted out his "Hey, Grandma!" reading of this shot glass in a crowded gift shop.....without realizing the alternative meaning of the phrase.....

Crab Dinner. A Thursday Night Tradition.

                                                                               

Me and Babygirl, Sunshiney and Healthy

We had a week of sunshine when rain was predicted daily. We had lazy days, bike rides, tides, sand castles, and swimming pools. We had nightly family dinners and games, outdoor showers, endless loads of beach towels in the washer, dolphin shows, and sunrises. 

At one point, Hubby looked at me and said, "We've go a lot of memories in this house." 

We do.  I mentioned a couple of years ago that I was going to miss having three generations there, now that my parents are gone.  No more Gramma and Grandpa, getting confused about the color of the Uno cards.

But we still have three generations.  Just....now....I'm Gramma. 

I think back to 1998, and realize that 20 years ago, my mom would have been the age that I am now, and she was not able to get in and out of the ocean.  She couldn't ride a bike anymore. She could walk a few blocks a couple of times a day, and she could eat an all-you-can-eat crab dinner like nobody's business, but her grandkid time was limited to a short walk to to the Candy Kitchen and the purchase of a Beanie Baby, and the nightly games at home.  I'm towing all the beach supplies in the trailer behind my bike every day and showing people how to use a boogie board.  (Makes me feel less guilty about my read-a-book-a-day habit.)

And my girls are grown ups, and their sweeties are grown ups, so the garbage got taken out, and towels were magically folded, and dishes just...got....put...away.  And it wasn't always me or Hubby.  It was a nice vacation.  

DeeDee

When Was The Last Time...

Babygirl and I were on some journey or other a while ago and heard a country/western song: For the First Time (Darius Rucker). "When was the last time you did something for the first time?" For Babygirl it had been less than a day. For me, well, I had to think about it.  Hard,

As we get older, I think, we've done more, so "first times" become somewhat more rare on that basis.  If I recall correctly, Babygirl's "first" at that moment was writing a check. THAT ship sailed so long ago for me that I'm sure the hull's been replaced a time or two.  But sometimes I pass some "first times" by for other reasons:  Babygirl's recent foray into parasailing didn't appeal at all for reasons of seasickness and a appalling vision of happens to 60-year-old bones if you drop them a few feet.

Be that as it may...

Our mission trip this year included several wonderful "firsts" for me. 

Our project type was not a first - it was flooring.  But it was the first time I've ever had to remove an ENTIRE room floor.  From the kitchen.  With the family actually living in the house, using the kitchen while we were working.  The subfloor had been saturated by a leaky central AC unit (repaired prior to our arrival).  The floor was so weak that when we removed the laminate overlay it immediatly collapsed in places, becoming a moldy, wet, danger to all of us.

Oh, and this was the first time my family has included toddlers.  In the house. While we were taking out their kitchen floor. Which was, incidentally, between their living room and the bathroom.

How Conveeenient.....

Especially the two days we disabled the stove.  The fridge moved into the living room.

This was, however, also the very first time in 15 years of mission trips that I have ever had the priveledge of FINISHING a project.  Out homeowner actually cried when we laid the last piece of tile.

This was also the first year that Babygirl was not on my team. She had decided ahead of time to split off on her own.  At 18, she's old enough to watch out for her health hazards.  Honestly, it turned out to be a good thing. We had an extremely moldy project.  Hers was much cleaner.

The other churches populating our center were wonderful, and every night there were games and laughter.  We learned how to play Egyptian Rat Screw.  We taught them Tenzi.  Dairy Queen was enjoyed by all.  And as always, we go in knowing that we aren't going to be enough, have enough, do enough, but that somehow, God IS enough.

DeeDee