Married Humor...

He didn't like the casserole
And he didn't like my cake,
My biscuits were too hard...
Not like his Mother used to make.
I didn't perk the coffee right
He didn't like the stew,
I didn't mend his socks...
The way his Mother used to do.
I pondered for an answer
I was looking for a clue,
Then I turned around and smacked him...
Like his Mother used to do.

Author unknown

A Long Trip (and story)!

After 3 weeks of rest my physical and mental health has gotten back to normal and I feel able to post about my marathon road trip.

It started in August, a few days before my daughter, Liz, and I were to leave to take her to Ohio for college. As she started packing, I was checking out the route. I planned for relatively short days as we would also be traveling with Bebe, the puppy. The original plan was to leave on August 18 and get to Steubenville on the 23rd. Well, the best laid plans of mice and men… The procrastination of Liz in starting to pack what she was taking and what she shouldn’t take (like her collection of swords) brought us down to the morning of the 18th with very little packed. As she reached the bottom of her floor she found things she hadn’t seen in months, which were then up for consideration. I kept reminding her that she would be living in a small room, 14’ x 10’, with at least one other girl, maybe two. Overall, she did pretty well in sorting through everything. The suburban was packed, but not overflowing. By 3 pm we had loaded all of her things as well as some of Pat’s things to drop off to him in Albuquerque. After filling up with gas, at $2.69 a gallon, we were off!

First stop, Pat’s apt. in Albq. Unloaded his items and made a quick run to Wal-Mart for a few more things for him. Around 7 pm we were back on the road. The puppy was being very good and we made it to Tucumcari, NM around 11 pm. We decided to stay the night there and get a good start in the morning.

Friday was a long day's drive to Edmond, OK where we spent the night with my brother, his wife and 3 kids. It was great to see all of them and Liz and her cousins stayed up very late doing whatever teenagers do at 3 in the morning.

After a short drive on Saturday we arrived at a lake outside of Tulsa where my parents are campground hosts. We had a relaxing afternoon and evening. The next morning Liz fished for a couple of hours. Didn’t catch anything but enjoyed sitting by the lake. Mom and I looked at slides from many years ago (did I really look like that)! The puppy and Grandpa went for a walk and she tracked an armadillo. We went to an all you can eat country buffet and ate until stuffed. Around 3 we got back on the road and made it to Rolla, MO.

The morning of the 22nd we made a quick stop in St. Louis at a friend's house to pick up a bed frame for my daughter, Kathleen. The puppy was doing pretty well and slept a lot of the time. We stopped often to let her run around, but I was afraid her great behavior wouldn't last. Since we were on a roll with the driving (I was listening to a book on tape and Liz was watching a movie) we kept on trucking. We made it to Steubenville on Tuesday at 2 in the morning, 2 days earlier than planned. Dropped the puppy off and went to sleep for a good long while.

After we woke we dropped off the bed. Liz couldn’t check in until Thursday so we shopped for bed linens, and other things both girls would need for school. That night we had a great dinner and got back to the room for an early evening, I thought! As I was getting ready for bed, I started having some pain in my lower chest. I have problems with heartburn so got out my medicine to relieve the pain. It wasn’t working. I was starting to writhe on the bed, unable to find any position to relieve the pain. Liz decided that I needed to go to the hospital, thinking that maybe I was having a heart attack as the pain was now all over my upper and lower torso. She drove me to the emergency room and after several tests the diagnosis was in. I had an inflamed pancreas and probably gallstones. CRAP!!! A little morphine later and the pain was nearly gone. The doc wanted me to stay overnight in the hospital, but stubborn me, I went back to the hotel with the promise I would return in the morning for an ultrasound. And I did. And I do have little tiny gallstones. Surgery is the normal solution to this problem but most medical literature I’ve seen says that if you’ve only had one attack, you can wait and see if you have another before needing surgery. Although I can't change some things, like being over 50 and having had a large family, my diet has changed - from a lot of fatty foods to more fruits and veggies and I haven’t had any more problems, yet! With an antibiotic and pain meds in case it flared up again, I was feeling pretty well. We spent the rest of the day getting the remainder of things for the girls.

Thursday, moving in day. Liz is on the bottom floor, in a triple (still 14’ x 10’), a little crowded but doable. There was a gang of movers who in a matter of minutes had unloaded the suburban and had all of her stuff in her room (the unpacking came later). Then the start of freshman orientation and Liz was officially a college student.

On Sunday, after loading my suburban back up with 2 box springs, a wine rack, a box of records and the bed frame (since it wouldn’t work in Kathleen’s house), I was back on the road. I made it to the west side of Indianapolis and slept like a baby. The next day I dropped the bed off in St. Louis and stayed in Joplin, MO. I spent another day and night with my Mom and Dad at the lake and the following day went to Amarillo. By Thursday evening, the 1st of September, I was back in my own bed at home.

It felt like I had been gone for a month. I was totally fried and didn’t want to see the inside of a car for a long while. Gasoline had gone up along the way to $3.01 a gallon and Hurricane Katrina was destroying the Gulf Coast. A week after I was home, I got a call to deploy to Montgomery, AL to assist with Ham Radio communications. I bowed out as I still was unsure about my medical health and didn’t want to add to the problems. Now another hurricane is threatening the Texas coast and perhaps the places already affected by Katrina. This time if asked to go, I will. My health is fine and I feel ready to travel again.

Although I felt like a U-Haul for a couple of weeks, I enjoyed the trip. I saw my first family and enjoyed seeing where my daughters are living. I always thought when my children were grown my job as a mother would be over, but it’s not. I guess it never really ends, the demands just change.
Motherhood is my vocation and I love it!