Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.
~Matsuo Basho
~Matsuo Basho
We are packing up tonight and should be on the road in the morning to go back home with a cat in a pillowcase, a hamster who tends to sleep in the strangest positions when traveling, and a dog who is nicknamed "Tail of Destruction" for a good reason. I am just wondering how it all will go. You see, on our way here, the cat peeked out the pillowcase and immediately got hot and began panting as he does just before getting carsick. However, I covered him up and moved him to the floor so he calmed down; the pillowcase has been the only method of transportation that worked with him. Now before that near-miss incident at a gas station and before we actually started the trip, Jamie did something completely unexpected and new just after I got him into the pillowcase and was placing him in my lap: he peed.
After a delay of about twenty minutes with cleaning up, changing pillowcases, and thanking the Lord for the Febreze made especially for animal smells since an area on the car seat was victimized, we were officially on our way. After lunch, the Tail of Destruction, living up to her name, knocked over the Princess' lemonade. Thankfully most of it landed on the towel on the floor of the van, but some areas of the carpet were soaked. As we were cleaning that up, we noticed the hamster in his most comical sleeping position with his feet and tail in the air, had a good laugh, and eventually we were on our way again.
What will happen on our trip tomorrow? I am almost afraid to think of the possibilities!
We have been in Florida for two weeks, long enough to get most paperwork rolling with the financial business after Dad's passing. We picked up the simple and beautiful cherry wood box containing Dad's ashes on Wednesday along with death certificates and mailed them out with necessary paperwork that same afternoon. Mom has decided to stay in her home at least for now and it looks to be affordable at this time, but we are concerned about her getting lonely, taking care of the house alone, and, oh, just everything complicated with us being a day's drive away and the only remaining family. As the holidays are approaching, we are thinking that the first Christmas after a love one passes is particularly difficult and we cannot visit on every upcoming holiday.
Regardless, at this time tomorrow we should be home!
Home...I really am looking forward to being home again. We usually are completely unpacked the evening of our return with a load of clothes in the washer, whites this time. Hopefully, we are returning in the prime of autumn's color explosion and maybe we can still make a trip to the apple country, as we usually do about this time of year. So far, my husband is not being asked to travel on Monday and I am looking forward to Sunday services at our church as well as making a loaf of sourdough bread and a batch of yogurt perhaps on Sunday or Monday in my own kitchen.
Monday morning the Princess will groan when I remind her that we shall be doing lessons and I will again hear her nimble fingers playing tunes on her piano, even though we did bring my keyboard so she would not lose practice time. Then all will be back into order...with some changes, perhaps better order than before. Whenever I have a break like this, I tend to reassess my goals and I hope to make some changes in my lifestyle to achieve them.
After a delay of about twenty minutes with cleaning up, changing pillowcases, and thanking the Lord for the Febreze made especially for animal smells since an area on the car seat was victimized, we were officially on our way. After lunch, the Tail of Destruction, living up to her name, knocked over the Princess' lemonade. Thankfully most of it landed on the towel on the floor of the van, but some areas of the carpet were soaked. As we were cleaning that up, we noticed the hamster in his most comical sleeping position with his feet and tail in the air, had a good laugh, and eventually we were on our way again.
What will happen on our trip tomorrow? I am almost afraid to think of the possibilities!
We have been in Florida for two weeks, long enough to get most paperwork rolling with the financial business after Dad's passing. We picked up the simple and beautiful cherry wood box containing Dad's ashes on Wednesday along with death certificates and mailed them out with necessary paperwork that same afternoon. Mom has decided to stay in her home at least for now and it looks to be affordable at this time, but we are concerned about her getting lonely, taking care of the house alone, and, oh, just everything complicated with us being a day's drive away and the only remaining family. As the holidays are approaching, we are thinking that the first Christmas after a love one passes is particularly difficult and we cannot visit on every upcoming holiday.
Regardless, at this time tomorrow we should be home!
Home...I really am looking forward to being home again. We usually are completely unpacked the evening of our return with a load of clothes in the washer, whites this time. Hopefully, we are returning in the prime of autumn's color explosion and maybe we can still make a trip to the apple country, as we usually do about this time of year. So far, my husband is not being asked to travel on Monday and I am looking forward to Sunday services at our church as well as making a loaf of sourdough bread and a batch of yogurt perhaps on Sunday or Monday in my own kitchen.
Monday morning the Princess will groan when I remind her that we shall be doing lessons and I will again hear her nimble fingers playing tunes on her piano, even though we did bring my keyboard so she would not lose practice time. Then all will be back into order...with some changes, perhaps better order than before. Whenever I have a break like this, I tend to reassess my goals and I hope to make some changes in my lifestyle to achieve them.
~ My Lord, please drawn close to my husband's mother, so she feels Your presence in her life and so she will not feel so lonely. Please bless our trip home. ~
