I am home. I am tired. It's nice to get away but it's also nice to come home. Since I'm back to work at 8:00 AM, this is going to be short.
It was a good trip in many ways. I always enjoy my trips to Michigan -- except for the driving rain en route this time. It's nice up there although they drive crazy which is typical in major metropolitan areas.
* The fireworks were pretty amazing. I'm used to seeing them above me from the ground. Watching them from The Man's 7th floor vantage point was really different. It was like they were almost in his living room. My daughter would have said "Wowsers!!!" and she would have been right.
* Spent a lot of time with the EeePC while The Man finished "swearing in" (sometimes literally LOL) his new full-size laptop and while I think it's a cute lil' thang, I am looking forward to the Acer Aspire One which has a larger screen and keyboard. That Economic Stimulus cash is burning a hole in my pocket!
* I always enjoy The Man's family -- especially his 95-year old mom. She's a doll.
* As always I ate too much. Sigh.
* On the way home I stopped in Toledo and drove by the house where I grew up and then went to see my stepmother. I got misty as I drove by the house and almost knocked on the door to see if the room I shared with my sister was still pink. It's still a pretty nice neighborhood which was gratifying.
* I also stopped and surprised the hell outta my stepmother. I buzzed her at her apartment and over the intercom told her that it was her long lost stepdaughter.
She said, "Who?"
I said, "Gene's kid!"
She buzzed me in and met me halfway down the hall with a big hug. I spent a lot of time with her talking about Dad and the family. I took her to lunch and we both promised to stay in touch. She also gave me some of dad's papers and promised to send more. We took some flowers to Dad's grave as well and she was grateful for that, too, as she doesn't drive anymore and hates to ask anyone to take her and her only daughter lives far away. I'm glad I went.
* The drive home was good and I only got nervous a few times.
I still have a lot I want to think about and may or may not share it with y'all. I did get some work done on How I Got to Be Me and will let you know more soon. As it is, right now I'm tired and I need to get some rest.
Happy Blogging!!!!!!!
Kay
Sounds like a whirlwind of a trip. Was stopping by your stepmother a spontaneous decision? It does seem as though it was a good one to take. Hope you manage to get back into the groove at work.
ReplyDeleteHow nice of you to stop and see your step-mother. I'd not go 10 feet to see the woman my dad married (at age 88).
ReplyDeleteinteresting you should be reconnecting with family -- I've been cleaning and sorting and ran across a stack of OLD pictures (a couple of them to be seen here:
ReplyDeletehttp://esmerldas.blogspot.com/2008/07/bit-of-work.html
which got me to thinking about renewing all those "contacts" before they're gone
welcome home!!
How nice that you drove your stepmom to your dad's resting place.
ReplyDeleteShe must have been grateful for your kindness.
Bear
Seeing Barb was something I just felt I needed to do. Barb has never been anything but nice to me and since she wasn't the cause of my parents' divorce, there's no reason for us not to be civil. In fact, she learned a few things she didn't know.
ReplyDelete