On the Road Home

I never actually entertained the thought of spending a night in Monroe, Louisiana, but last night, the Holiday Inn Express looked pretty darned good.  After 2 weeks of caregiving in Graham, and then stopping off in Abilene to see my father-in-law who is in the hospital there, and 10 hours on the road in the wind and rain, I knew I could not make those last 5 hours home.  While I am mentally rested this morning, there is just about no place on me that does not hurt!  I am having some coffee, courtesy of the bottled water left in my room by the hotel staff (apparently, the chemical smell that permeates the air of Monroe also permeates the water and makes it a lovely rusted brown color--kind of like being in Greenville, Mississippi), and watching the wind and rain outside my window in the early morning semi-light.  Looks like another gray day of rain driving.

 My sister sent me a message right after she fed last night that Rio missed me.  I doubt he has had time to get all that enamored of me in 2 weeks, but I did miss him.

 Dad's mule is very skittish, including of him.  Normally, she would not get close to her feed bin until I walked away, but I started talking to her in my mule whisperer voice the first day, and by the time I left, she would eat from the bin while I stood there talking to her.  Her name is Jenny (my dad says he is not very creative when it comes to naming his animals--the last one was Mule) but I started calling her Jennybelle.  She would cock her head to the side and study me intently, and then slowly walk toward me.  She and Rio both have their winter coats on, and while Rio still looks pretty, Jennybelle is a mighty scruffy looking thing at the moment.

In Abilene, I stayed in the gorgeous new home of our long time friend and adopted family member.  He is so good to go see Chet when he is in the hospital, and many's the time he has gone to see my dad when he was in the hospital in a town 2 hours away.  Our group of friends got together for dinner Friday night before I headed out the next morning, and we called our Unalaska friend.  I was in chef heaven cooking dinner on W's new Viking range, in his beautiful kitchen with its granite counters.

This has been a good trip, and while I will be really happy to be home later today, it is another good memory and a reminder of the importance of relationships.