Finding Direction: The Wind Vane Chronicles

Monday I shared with you how my mom gifted Tom and me with money so we could go visit my older son, David, and family in Winchester, Virginia in May.  However, as you know, we couldn’t go because of my pinched nerve.

Tom and I were both very disappointed to say the least, as we have not seen them in over two years and Tom and I have not had the opportunity to drive up there together since the fall of 2000 – nine years, y’all!  It’s a long two day trip, at best, and last time we went, Tom got sick the day we left and we spent three days on the road with me doing most of the driving.

But, the most wonderful thing has come about that is even better.  In fact, much better!   I mean, a once in a lifetime happening that spread out families (like ours, anyway, most of us being on limited means with time constraints, as well) only dream of, but rarely can achieve.

We are all going out next weekend (July 11-12) to spend the next three days (July 13-16) in Grapevine, Texas, a suburb of Dallas/Ft. Worth very near DFW airport, at a big resort/indoor water park called The Great Wolf Lodge.

And when I say “all” of us, I do mean all.  All three of my children and their families are coming, all of my grandchildren (except for my eldest, Caitlin, who is 20 and lives in Baltimore) will be there and my mom and Laura are driving over from Abilene to join us.  Tom’s daughter and family live near by (Grand Prairie) and will be coming over to join us one day and evening, as well.

Four generations will be together.  Nine of my 10 grandchildren and two of Tom’s three grandchildren (for one day) will be there.  All of our children will be together for one day.

This joyous reunion we have rather hastily planned arose through circumstance (and love for each other) in a very impromptu sort of way that none of us could have foreseen even a month ago.  I like to think that God has had a hand in it, and certainly ask for His blessings upon us all as we travel.  We are all basically pooling our money and helping each other out in every way we can so we can all do this and be together.

Be sure and check out the link above to the Great Wolf Lodge and the video below.  It is a really neat place centered around entire families and their needs.  Being indoors, the water park will be a perfect place to hang out in this hot July weather.

I’ll be sharing more with you about it later.  And, I’ll also next time get back to my next episode of our April Road Trip when my mom has the chance for the first time to meet her youngest three great-grandchildren and their mom and we capture it all with pictures.

For now – watch the video below to share with us our anticipation in going to such a marvelous place and stay tuned . . .

 View From the 80s: A Philosophy of Life at 87

Saturday, April 4th – Mom’s Present View

I last left The Great Road Trip of 2009 saga with Tom taking Mom, Laura and me shopping in Slidell that Saturday afternoon at the mall.  Penney’s, to be exact, to buy knit shirts.  (See that post here – I know it’s been a while.  Sorry.)

Mom insisted on buying us all the shirts we wanted on sale and she got a couple, as well.  When Laura & I protested, she said this was something she wanted to do, and was going to do it!  She began sharing her view of life
at 87.  She had things to say and wanted us to listen carefully, paying full attention, Penney’s or not.

I’d begun to get an inkling of her current thinking before our trip had begun, but had not realized its depths.  We’d been talking about it since the prior December, but it wasn’t until late Feb. 2009 when I finalized my plans to fly out to Abilene on March 31 and mailed Mom a copy of my itinerary that I got a major clue as to her thinking.

She sent me a birthday card for my March 2 birthday with a check enclosed.  She usually sends each of us a $20 bill for our birthdays, but this check was for $60 + the cost of the plane ticket.  I was surprised and called her to thank her, asking if my worth as a person had risen in value since turning 60.

She laughed and told me that she not only was paying for my plane ticket, but also intended to pay for our entire trip.  The three of us (Mom, Laura & I) had not discussed it at all, but I think Laura’s thinking was the same as mine – we were doing this for our mom and would share the costs on the road equally – in thirds.

I didn’t get a chance to talk with Laura about it until I got out to Abilene and she began worrying about having cash to bring with her on the trip for expenses.  I told her what Mom had said and that I, too, would help her with cash if she needed it, not to worry about it.

Sure ’nuff, Mom bought the gas, whatever food we ate (which wasn’t a lot on the trip, if you remember) and paid for our night at the DiamondJack Hotel.  Since we’d been back home to Picayune, she kept telling me that she would help pay for our groceries while she & Laura (and then Laura’s husband) were there, but had not as yet done so.

Now, here we were shopping at the mall and Mom wanted to share with us her heart.  [Note:  I must say here that our mom is by no means a wealthy woman, as the world perceives wealth.  Children of the depression, she and Dad never had a lot of money, but they always saved.  She has a degree in Business Administration and always kept the "books." I never knew how she managed so well, us living on a farm and there being four of us kids, but she did.]

She began telling us that at this point in her life (she is 87!), she has
more money than she’ll ever be able to spend.  She says that money is
the least of her worries, unlike all the rest of us.  She began to relate how many Christian friends she’d had, still has, who were so tight with their money, that they would not let go of any of it for anything – even their children.  Most of all, their children, she said.

She said they would (will) wait until after they are long dead before their kids see a penny of it, and by then the kids (likened unto us) could possibly all be in their late 60s or even 70s before the remaining parents are gone.  Mom thinks that is stupid and selfish!  She says she realizes that whatever she gives us now, that means we’ll have less after she’s gone (since she’s leaving all she has to we three kids, anyway), but she knows there are things in our lives that are importance for us to do now, while we are still young enough and healthy enough) and she wants us to be able to do them.

Most important, she said, she wants to be around to enjoy the pleasure of sharing her money with us so that we can all do things together – like this very trip we were on.  And we were having a blast!!

Besides, she said with a twinkle in her eye and getting back to our shopping "spree," we’d better take full advantage of all we could get while she was in such a generous mood spending her kids’ inheritance!

For all we got, "her" bill was only about $100, which was amazing.

We stopped at Sam’s Club to pick up some thick steaks for Tom to grill later and started home.  It was now about 5:30 p.m. and Mom was tired, she said.  Me, too.  My shoulder blade had begun to hurt, but I didn’t say anything to anyone.  We were all having too much fun.

By the time we got home and laid out all of our "cute" shirts to gaze upon, we decided we were still full from the late sandwich lunch and told Tom we’d rather save the steaks for the next evening.  He agreed, but told us we’d better not fill up on sandwiches tomorrow because he wanted to grill us those steaks.

We had gotten Mom & Laura some neat night lights/flash lights while in Sam’s and Mom insisted she wanted to pay us back for hers.  She would not let us gift her with anything.  But, she’d not said a word about the $200 I’d spent on groceries that morning or the steaks, which I thought was a bit odd since she’d said she wanted to cover everything.  But, I wasn’t going to say anything because she was our guest and my mom, for goodness sakes, and we wanted to do things for her.  

She went off to her bedroom to piddle around and bring me what I thought was going to be a $20 check.  She was gone a while, but finally emerged and handed me a check, she said, to cover all our expenses, but with something extra for a special purpose, if we so desired.  I looked at the amount on the check and I was floored.  Tears welled up in my eyes so that I couldn’t see as I exclaimed, "MOM!?!

It was for at least five times more than all of our expenses for the trip and week.  It was a very generous check with a comma in it.  She said, "I want you to go on to see David (my older son in Virginia) in May, like you’d planned before your fiancial situation hit a down turn.  It’s important that you go on and go and see him and his family because it’s been two years and you need to go."

I showed Tom the check and he was stunned, too.  She told us that she had been planning this for a good while before the trip.  She had told Laura before hand what she was going to go and was giving Laura and my brother Neil each checks of the same amount – for all of us to do whatever we wanted to do with the extra gifted money.

She shared with us, again, and with Tom, how she felt about it and why she was doing it, but we were still overwhelmed at her generosity, not only of money, but mostly of heart and spirit.

I hope I can better emulate my mom with my kids, you know?  We do not have a lot, but we try to share what we can when we can.  In the end, that is all any of us can do.  May we all try to be as generous in heart and love as my mom!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As you know, things did not work out for Tom & me to go to Virginia in May to see David and family because of my pinched nerve, but something even better has come up in God’s timing that will take place in just two weeks and I cannot wait to share it with you.  But, this has gone on too long already, so it will have to wait for next time, when I also get back to the next episode in The Great Road Trip of 2009.

In the meantime, Many Blessings to you each today!  Dee

To Be Continued . . .

We’ve just returned Monday evening from five days away and were so happy to be home, you know?  I’ll show you some photos below of some of the reasons we so love coming home.

We saw the neurosurgeon in Birmingham (a gorgeous city, by the way – at least the south side where we were) on Monday about 1 p.m.  He was very thorough and excellent, we thought.

As he walked into the examining room where Tom & I were waiting, he looked at me and exclaimed, “Ms. Andrews – You have one messed up neck!”  That did not portend well, I thought.  He then talked with me about my history & current symptoms, had me get up and walk all around the room, checked my posture, etc, and checked my reflexes all over my body.

He then invited us into the next room where all of my MRI films and x-rays were hanging in front of a light wall.  He went over each and every one of them with me (us), showing us in detail what he saw and what it meant.  He marked up my x-rays with a red grease crayon and did the same on my MRI films, explaining each marking as he made it.

His conclusion was that my pinched nerve is most likely coming from between my C4-5 vertebrae, which is where I had the one pinched nerve before in 1982 – some 27 years ago.  That was where I had guessed it might be coming from, and he said I was correct.  That point – on the left side between C4-5 – was where he saw the most narrowing of the space where the nerves are.  Through the intervening years I have developed a lot of arthritis and bone spurs, which could be at least part of the cause of this current problem.

He said that because all of my reflexes appear to be normal, he thinks I will fully recover in time, continuing with the cervical traction I’ve been doing 2 or 3 times a day.  (He tweaked that some, adding some more weight for a shorter period of time.)  In the meantime, he is sending me here for a steroid epidural injection in my neck to relieve the pain (hopefully) and to calm the stressed nerve (my words).

I am going in for that a week from Monday (July 6).  Hopefully, I will be able to stop taking pain medications then.  I’ll continue to rest, use traction, take pain meds as needed until the pain goes away, hopefully.  I’m using the word “hopefully” a lot here, but that is a good word, you know?  To have hope!!  I did not have much, or any, for the first six weeks of this ordeal.

He asked how long it took for me to recover from the first pinched nerve and I told him several months.  He thinks it will be the same with this one.  It’s already been nearly 3 months I’ve been dealing with this, but I’ve only been using traction about a month (which is the only thing that’s helped, and he agreed was the only thing he thought would help).

He does not think I need surgery, nor does he think I’ll need to come back to see him, but they all assured me there that if I had any further problems or questions, to call.  They gave me his card to keep.

I don’t think I have to tell you how elated Tom & I were to get that good news!  You all have been a treasure to me in praying with me and for me in this – as you’ve done in all things I’ve had health problems with.

[Note:  Tuesday afternoon - Randy Wray of Theobloggers has gotten my photo upload/download problem fixed, so below are some photos of our bedroom & view out the South facing window.  Enjoy!  I will also be adding these to my tab at the top of the page here "A Home Complete."]

Many Blessings to you all today!!  Dee

Our "beachside looking" master bedroom

Our master bedroom window faces the South, out over our deck.

Here is a closer view of the deck and woods beyond.

Here's the view (looking North) from the deck into our bedroom.

I’m writing to you today from Biloxi, Mississippi from the Beau Rivage Casino Hotel Resort where we are attending the 143rd annual Mississippi Press Association’s summer convention.  That’s a long time, folks, for newspapers in Mississippi (and newspapers in general) to have been such a big part of American life. 

I mean – we’re talking about the Mississippi Press Association starting its first summer convention in 1856.  That’s before the Civil War.  Our country at that time was only 80 years young.  Isn’t that amazing?!

Here in Mississippi, as well as in I would guess every state of our union, most newspapers are not the vast regional/national papers that we’ve heard and read about having so much trouble staying alive.  We are talking about small town, home town newspapers that share with us the local news and events that we want and need to know about in our daily lives.  We want to know about and see newspaper pictures of our kids’ baseball games, football games, basketball games, scouting activities, school awards’ days, engagements, weddings, deaths, obituaries, political goings on.

These are the realities of our daily lives recorded for us for posterity.  How many of you do not have newspaper clippings tucked away in boxes in closets that are treasures kept from long ago and to be passed on to those who come after us?  I know I have yellowed newspaper photos of my kids when they were little and doing all of the fun school and scouting stuff

I treasure a small cut out photo of my little four year old son Mark chomping down heartily on corn on the cob caught by a local newspaper reporter covering the town’s 4th of July celebration one summer.  Every time I look at it I smile at how cute he was then with his long, thick paint brush eyelashes shading his golden green eyes.

I still have my dad’s obituary cut out and saved in a drawer.  That will pass along to my children one day, along with much older newspaper clippings that my mom has saved for many decades now from her own family’s history.

So, while we are having fun here – and we are (I’m feeling "pretty" good, but am quite tired) – we also take seriously the reasons that bring us all together and bind us as print media journalists and families.  We do not confuse our duties and responsibilities to our communities with the glitz, glamour & frenzy wrought by scandal tabloids and celebrity papparazi.  Nor do we bow to those in places of power, status & wealth who would sway opinion among their readers by reporting through biased filters and lenses rather than objectively reporting the news and letting the public draw their own conclusions.

So, when you think of newspapers and print media, do not make blanket statements and judge all for the shortcomings and sins of some.  There are vast differences between the two groups.

Wish us well and pray community newspapers will not cease to exist.  They are of vital importance even today – maybe even moreso today – than ever.  Do not take your community newspaper for granted. 

That’s a blogger’s view here today from the beautiful – but very hot – Mississippi gulf coast at the Mississippi Press Association’s summer convention. 

Stay cool!  Dee

April 4th – The Girls (& Tom) Go Shopping

Saturday was our second full day at home together and another day full of fun, too, thanks as always to Mom.  It was a busy one, but not too.  We tried our best to rest and relax in between "fun stuff," but then, it was all fun!  Although looking back, I think this was about the time the pain first started in my left shoulder blade. 

I was pretty hyper, still, from the trip and did too much, with trying to make sure everyone was having a great time and that all went smoothly.  I knew it at the time, but did not realize the toll it was taking or what the consequences would be.

My blood sugars were crashing on a regular basis, sometimes as many as four or five times a day.  I must have drunk nearly a case of Cokes during that two week period.  I could not keep my blood sugars up.  It’s a wonder I didn’t gain about 10 lbs., but I didn’t.

The first thing on the agenda for the day, which didn’t start too early for any of us, was coffee, of course, with a light breakfast, and then grocery shopping.  I had not been to the grocery store in over a week and needed fresh produce and some things for cooking while company was here.

So, Laura and I headed off to town to Walmart.  That’s always a challenge and especially in Picayune on Saturdays when I think the entire county’s population comes to town to shop there.  This day, it was particularly difficult to not only park, but shop, because the entire store was under major renovations with everything in the store out of place and no new signs up to point you in the right direction.  None of the employees had a clue, either, to where anything was, so it took us forever to get groceries (and a lot of money, since I was buying a lot more than usual).

By the time we got home, put everything away and had sandwiches, it was nearly 2 p.m. and we had yet to start to Slidell to the mall for some more shopping.  The plan was for us to go to Penney’s to get some cute shirts on sale -  cheap – and then go by Sam’s to get some steaks for Tom to grill for dinner. 

What we had not planned, was for Mom to pay for our shirts (we girls, that is – poor Tom was just our driver everywhere!).  But, she insisted on buying us all the shirts we wanted when we got there (and they were cute and on sale for only about $5 bucks apiece!! – Mom even got a couple).  She laughingly told us we’d better stock up while she was in such a generous mood spending all of her kids’ inheritances.

While Laura & I protested, she began sharing her philosophy of life at 87 and began telling us . . .

[Note:  Y'all - I'm tired today, and especially this afternoon, so think I'll stop right here.  Be sure and come back, though, because I think you will take away much wisdom from this lovely, delightful mom of ours.  Here's a couple of pictures for today of Mom, Tom & Laura eating key lime pie on the back porch that beautiful April 4th afternoon.  Isn't our back porch just the neatest place ever?]

To Be Continued . . .

April 3rd – First Day Back Home With Mom & Laura: Wiped Out, But Fun

My first day back home with Mom & Laura in tow after our adventurous, but also grueling (from my perspective, as coordinator and sole driver) 750 mile road trip found me totally wiped out, so we decided to just take it easy all day. 

The weather was absolutely perfect – and stayed perfect – for the entire six days they visited.  It was about 55-60 degrees at night and in the mid 70s by day, so we kept the entire house opened up to the big screened in back porch most of the time and spent a lot of time out there, too.

Mom usually gets up at home in Abilene very early in the morning – like 5 or 6 a.m., but the entire time she was here, she rested very well and "slept in" every morning, sometimes as late as 8 or 8:30 a.m.  She was staying really active every day and surprised even herself at how well she slept each night.

This day, she got up before Tom left for work (he typically leaves about 7:30 a.m.) and they had cereal together.  This was to be his last work day until they left six days later, so he had a lot to get done.  He wasn’t coming home for lunch, either, as the office was having a big  crawfish boil and boiled shrimp, with lots of red potatoes, corn on the cob, mushrooms and garlic cooked in the hot, spicy liquid.  I would have gone if I hadn’t had company because that’s my kind of eatin’, so I was a bit envious.

I’d fixed up my coffee pot the night before for Mom to plug in when she got up so she could have her one cup of coffee to get going, because I knew that I wasn’t going to get up that early and neither was Laura. 

Digression:  I’ve long had a 12 cup stainless steel percolator that I love, not liking coffee makers.  They don’t make or keep coffee hot enough for me and I’ve never had one that I thought really stayed very clean inside the water compartment where our water caused yucky orange stuff to grow, despite me trying to clean it  out with vinegar.

Anyway . . . the day was ours and Laura & I eventually got up to join Mom in hanging out by mid-morning.  I still needed to unpack my clothes, but somehow couldn’t seem to get that far in getting anything done.  I also badly needed to wash & roll my hair, having not done that for a week, and decided to do that first.

We stayed so busy talking and still looking around the house all morning that somehow I couldn’t seem to get anything done, though.  We decided on a late lunch – maybe small sandwiches or salad – because we weren’t that hungry, and I finally got my hair washed and a towel wrapped around my head about 1:30 p.m.

That’s when I heard the garage door open.  There was Tom with a big plastic bowl spilling over with boiled crawfish, jumbo boiled shrimp & all the fixin’s leftover from their lunch at work.  What a wonderful surprise for us!  I was delighted!  So were Mom & Laura, believe it or not.  This was perfect, because I’d been craving some good boiled crawfish and these really big shrimp were SO-o-o good!

That’s when I took these photos of us with our table full of goodies.

First is Laura & Mom before they started digging in (and wondering what they’re getting in to).  You’ll note that my tray – to the front of the table – has a whole lot more crawfish & shrimp on it than theirs:

If you’ll note, in this second photo below, Laura is holding a crawfish, while Mom is holding her shrimp with its feet up.  Laura insisted Mom was holding her shrimp wrong, because the feet should be down (like it really makes a difference, but Laura thought that with its feet up it looked "dead," which in fact, it was, of course).

Anyway, at Laura’s insistence, I took a 3rd picture so that Mom could show off her (isn’t it big?!) shrimp the "correct" way.  As you can see, all involved were having a great time!  (Except for maybe the "dead" shrimp, but boy, were they good eatin’):

 You may also note that not only was there a big roll of paper towels on the table because all that stuff is so messy to eat, but there is a box of Kleenex, because the stuff is so hot it makes your nose run (and mouth burn!). 

Thanks to Tom, our first day home was a great success, not only making for good eatin’, but also some great photos of the whole experience.  And, not only did we have a Cajun lunch, we were all full and didn’t have to worry about dinner.  We just all snacked.  

As for me . . . I had to re-wet my hair and finally got it rolled up about 4 p.m.(!), but it took me 2 1/2 more days before I could find time to unpack my suitcase.  It was to be that way the entire visit.  But, oh what fun we had!  In fact, the next day on Saturday . . . but, wait – I’m getting ahead of myself.  You’ll have to come back, okay?!

To Be Continued . . .

I’ve surprised myself today.  It’s now 5:37 p.m. and I’ve not even gotten on Facebook today . . . as yet!  Aren’t you impressed?!

Second, I’m feeling a good bit better the past several days and am looking forward to the Mississippi Press Association’s Summer Convention the end of next week over in Biloxi!  From there we are driving up to Birmingham to see the neurosurgeon about my pinched nerve from my neck.

But, I’ll be back (hopefully, tomorrow) with you to post the next chapter of The Great Road Trip of 2009, so stay tuned.

Cheers & Blessings to you all today!

Dee

[Note:  Sorry I've been "absent" all week.  Had Dr. visits with Cardiologist & Nephrologist, but all is well with my heart & kidneys, so that's good news.  My pinched nerve pain is better, as well, from sitting in traction, so I'm a bit more hopeful about that after 2+ months.  Did I tell you we're going to Birmingham to see a top notch Neurosurgeon on Mon. June 22?  Can't wait.

Also, it's going to take me a while to finish up this day's post about this day of our road trip, so if it's not all up, yet (it's about 11 a.m.), keep checking back today for the "rest of the story."  At least as far as April 2, 2009 went.  It's exciting.  Dee]

April 2nd – Rest of the Second Day of our Road Trip From Abilene to South Mississippi

When I last left you on the GRTof2009, it was late morning in east Louisiana on I-20 and we had passed through what we thought was the heaviest of rain storms and were looking to stay ahead of them to get on home.  My blood sugar was pretty low, so I’d had a Coke and was ready to hit the road again.

We had not eaten breakfast and kept thinking we’d find a good place to stop to have an early lunch, which we needed.  Especially me.  So, we drove on east through Monroe, then across the mighty Mississippi at Vicksburg and on over to Jackson.

It rained on us the entire way and when I talked with Tom, he indicated the moving front/storms were massive in size, covering all of Louisiana and most of Mississippi.  This did not portend well.

As I knew from experience, there were not really any easy off the road places to eat along that stretch, traffic was heavy and besides it was raining – heavily at times – so we drove on. 

We cut south from Jackson, down U. S. 49 towards Hattiesburg.  This was a four lane road, but alway heavily traveled and not an interstate.  Just south of Jackson, in what was now very heavy rain, thunder & lightening, we stopped to get gas and walk around a bit.  Dummy me did not check my blood sugar, again, thinking it was fine from the Coke I’d had an hour and a half before.  That turned out to be a huge mistake.

Each mile we drove, conditions worsened exponentially.  I was driving about 40 mph with the windshield wipers on as fast as they would go, but still couldn’t see a blasted thing – not even the vehicles in front of me.  There were narrow shoulders on the road and no place to turn aside to wait it out.  None.

I was, as you can imagine, extremely tense, burning nervous energy by the tons and existing on adrenalin.  I felt totally trapped by the circumstances, but there was no choice but to drive on.  I worried greatly about keeping my mom & Laura safe, too.

By the time we got close to Magee, Mississippi, about 1/2 way to Hattiesburg, it began to hail with what sounded like baseballs being thrown at the car.  I was horrified!  This whole trip had been my big idea and now here I was in my mom’s beloved 13 year old car with less than 40,000 miles on it and I was going to be the one who ruined it forever.  Pressure was building.

Besides that, I’d been feeling kind of shaky the past 1/2 hour or more and felt I really needed another Coke, but I didn’t want Mom to have to get out of her seatbelt to have to reach over and dig around in the ice chest under these conditions.  We could have been hit, hit someone or skidded off the shoulder of the road from the winds at any second, I feared.  We’d passed one massive wreck, already.  Plus, there were tornado warnings out all along the way and Magee had been hit by a bad one just a week ago this day.

Tom had been through Magee the day after the tornado and it was devastating.  Now here we were in the same place under the same conditions.  There was still no place to stop.

Finally, many more miles down the road – at 2:30 p.m. – I found a big quick stop/gas station and pulled in, manuevering among dozens of vehicles, to come to a stop in front of a little fast food place that was part of it.  I told Mom I needed a Coke and that I needed to just sit there for a while.  I’d just checked my blood sugar and it was so low that I should not have even been functional enough to do anything more than lie back in the recliner for about 30 minutes, but here I was driving under circumstances that Mom & Laura both said they could not have done at all, having had no experience with such things.

It poured down excessive rain as we talked about what to do next.  Mom had kept saying how thankful she was that I was driving and in control because I was the only one who could have done it.  I checked my sugar again after about 15 minutes and it was still very low.  I drank a second Coke.

Do you have any idea how many mg of sugar are in two Cokes?  Tons!  Yet, here I was guzzling them down as quickly as possible to get my brain function going again.  Without "sugar" in the brain to keep it working properly, one becomes very disoriented and completely irrational.  I’m telling you right now – it was God who had brought me through this to this point of safety, and God alone.  And, I knew it.  Without a doubt, I knew it.

Laura went in to use the restroom and to check out the menu in the little chicken place as we debated what to do.  We thought about having her run back in to order us some food to sit and eat in the car.  Then we talked about driving on to Hattiesburg, another 45 minutes away, to try to eat there, were there were numerous good places to eat. 

But, in the end, the overriding factor for me was to get on home as quickly as possible, which was about an hour and a half away.  This was what I had wanted from about 3 a.m. that morning when I wasn’t able to sleep.  I told them that I was OK to drive now with so much sugar in me and that once we got home, I had plenty of food, if they could hold out a while longer and snack a bit, and we’d have a big dinner.

Heavy rain continued to pound us as I got back on the road.  But, several miles on down the way, as we neared Hattiesburg, it began to clear out and miracle of miracles, we saw some blue sky between the clouds.  By the time we hit I-59 at Hattiesburg, it was sunny and mild, as if we were in any entirely different world.

It was a little after 3 p.m. and I suddenly decided to pull of to find a place to eat, after all.  Then, when we got on home (an hour away), we wouldn’t have to worry about cooking, but could just get unloaded and try to relax.  We settled on Chili’s and all had excellent salads with grilled shrimp.  We’d made the right decision.

The last hour of the trip on home was easy, even with some light rain along the way, and we arrived here about 4:30 p.m. in bright sunny weather.  I called Tom to tell him we’d made it, with all the gripping details to follow, and he told me to go in the house to open the garage door so we could park Mom’s car inside and unload.  I told him I would, but first, had other plans.

I told Laura & Mom that I wanted them to come into our home through the front door as honored guests.  So we did.

We spent the next couple of hours taking the grand tour so they could both oohh and aahhh over every detail and then unloaded the car.  First things first, you know.

I was thrilled to be home in one piece and thrilled to have them both here.  The weather was lovely and I opened all of the windows and door to the back porch, where we went out to sit after Tom got home.

Most of all, I thanked God that he had kept me and kept us safe and healthy so that we could do this and be together.  This was a once in a lifetime opportunity for joy and happiness as a family that God blessed us with.  I had been praying about this for over three months and now it was coming to pass.

I was overjoyed and looking forward to the next several days of their visit.  Each day was to bring more fun than the day before, so stay tuned.

To Be Continued . . .

Note:  I know it’s been a while, but when the last segment of "The Great Road Trip of 2009" ended, it was just after midnight Thursday morning, April 2, 2009 and Mom, Laura & I were on the road from Abilene to Mississippi in our hotel room in Shreveport, LA getting a good night’s rest.  At least, some of us were.  Here’s how the last segment ended:

"The day ended with me wide awake.  As a new day began, I prayed for sleep, to no avail.  

Then, some 45 minutes into the new "day," – 12:45 a.m. Thursday
morning – me still in bed wide awake, the peace was shattered by a loud
knocking on the door.

What on earth, I thought."

April 2nd – Early Morning, DiamondJack Casino Hotel

I fumbled around trying to get out of bed and find my glasses, which were around the corner on top of the TV in the sitting area.  At the same time, Laura jumped out of bed just as confused as I was.  She followed me to the door, as a second round of loud knocking commenced.  She asked me what I was going to do, afraid I’d open the door, but I told her I was just going to look through the peephole to see what was going on.

Luckily, we were on one side of the atrium and the hall was well lit.  I saw a husky young black man standing at our door with a cell phone in his hand and as I watched him, he placed a call to someone saying, "What room are you in, again?  I’m here, but you’re not answering."

"Oh," he said.  He repeated the room number given him, which was on the same 6th floor, but he had transposed the other two numbers, leading him by mistake to our room, instead of the room he wanted.  As he sauntered off, Laura and I got back in our bed.  It was 1 a.m.

Mom had somehow slept through the whole thing, but Laura and I were both now wide awake.  Me, still, and as it turned out, her, too.  I’d been still as a mouse, except for checking out my indiglo watch every few minutes and thought Laura had been sound asleep the entire time because she had been still, too.

Nope.

We started talking quietly and giggling about things.  Mostly about Mom and how much fun she seemed to be having.  We agreed she was having a great time, some of which was evident by her falling asleep so quickly and easily when she got in bed at 10:45 p.m. and now sleeping through this latest commotion.

We talked about not being able to sleep and what to do about it, and I remembered I’d brought along a few sleeping pills of Tom’s that he’d used when the bursitis in his right hip was so bad, and I offered one to Laura, who was most grateful.  I wasn’t sure about taking one, myself, since it was already nearly 1:30 a.m. and I had a long day of driving ahead of me to get home, but decided I needed the sleep and the pills had never made me feel drowsy the next day before when I’d taken them, so I took one.

Laura & I giggled some more as I talked about feeling bad for not letting her sleep with me more often when we were kids.  Then, I told her I’d been lying there comforting myself with my new light up watch and showed her how bright it was (and that it was now a bit after 1:30 a.m.).  She really started giggling about me and my obsession with my new watch and showing it off so much, and then our voices faded to silence.

I could tell that she soon fell asleep because I could hear her soft breathing and a bit of quiet snoring. Me?  I tried my best, but still could not go to sleep.  By 3 a.m., I figured it was a lost cause, but there was nothing I could do about it but lie there and wait until Mom woke up, which was usually early.  I think I finally – maybe – got about and hour and a half of sleep, but by 5:30 a.m., I was once more awake.

Mom got up quietly about 6 a.m. and I called out to her, telling her I was awake, as well.  I got up and told her I’d not slept much at all and we talked about the day to come, both wanting to get our things together and get on the road as soon as possible.  We figured we could just wake Laura up to get her things together and that she then could go back to sleep in the car if she wanted.  What I wanted was to go home.  I felt totally wiped out, but wanted to get home with my precious "cargo" this day more than anything else in the world.

But, there were potential problems looming.  

We’d talked with Tom the night before and had been watching the weather forecast the previous few days and knew that this day was supposed to be very rainy and stormy all across the south, moving from Texas to Louisiana to Mississippi and then on over into Alabama.

We had decided the night before, as Tom had advised, to head straight east on I-20 across Louisiana to Monroe, then into Mississippi across the Mississippi river at Vicksburg, on to Jackson, where we would head southeast to Hattiesburg and down I-59 to Picayune.  We all thought that trying to head down across Louisiana on I-49 from Shreveport to Lafayette, then on I-10 to Baton Rouge and across the south part of Louisiana to Slidell and back up I-59 20 miles to Picayune would present more storm problems and much more traffic.

It was a toss up, I suppose, but I felt more comfortable with our plan because there were a lot more towns along the entire way and I knew the roads well.

As we got our things together and drank coffee, thunder boomed and lightening lit up the still dark sky to the west out our 6th floor window overlooking the Red River.  We were packed and down in our car by 8 a.m., glad to be under the portico of the hotel because rain was pelting down.  We’d had nothing to eat, but thought we could stop later somewhere along the way.  I was anxious to get us on the road.

We were on the far east side of Shreveport, Bossier City and interstate access was next to our hotel.  I merged into a good bit of traffic covering four lanes, but it thinned out fairly soon, although the rain in the dark sky kept coming.  We could tell that we were on more or less the front edge of the bad storm and thought we could drive out of it soon.  But, then we realized it was coming at us at an angle from the southwest toward the northeast.

Still, by about 10:30 a.m., even through sometimes very heavy rain and a lot of 18 wheelers, we’d made it 2/3 of the way across Louisiana.  We stopped to take a break in now light rain and I checked my blood sugar, which had done great the entire day before.

My old nemesis was back.  My sugar was low.  I pulled out a Coke and quickly drank it, thinking that would take care of things.  However, little did I know what lie ahead of us as we headed into not only major low blood sugar problems, but also the furies of the horrendous storm chasing us home.

To Be Continued . . .

I have gained a new respect for the positive aspects of the internet for Christians as I have gone through this latest health battle with the pinched nerve in my left shoulder blade area from my totally messed up neck.  You all have been a huge part of this thinking on my part.  I’ll talk about that soon, but have too much to say to write it all out right now.  I don’t feel well enough to do so.

I’m afraid I must once more apologize for being so slow in getting more "The Great Road Trip of 2009" posts written and published.  I’m hoping to work on the next one tomorrow, Lord willing.  If I feel better than right now.

So instead, I want to offer you 3 more photos that will be included in our "home tour" at the "A Home Complete" tab at the top of the page.

Last time I showed you the front of our house, which is rather "plain" and ordinary, I suppose.  We tried to make it a typical Southern home with the pillars & shutters, etc.  Here is a picture looking from inside the front door toward the back, where all of the "action" is.  The focus of our home is toward the back wall of windows looking into the big screened in back porch.  Look see:

Next is the view into our dining room (which we do use, btw) which is to the right of the front door. 

And last is a view in our living room looking back toward the front door with the dining room on the left.

You will notice that I’ve managed to share with you several pictures of our living area without yet showing our 60" HDTV to the right side in the above photo.  That, my friends, is an accomplishment!

I hope and pray you each have a great weekend ahead!  Please continue with me in prayer concerning my pinched nerve.

Much love to you all!  Dee