It Was All Good

It was a fine trip, once we got where we were going.


There were still a few colors on the leaves,

some fine sunsets and views,

lots of love,

everywhere I looked.

Yes, it was a fine trip, all very good, especially the desserts!


Hope your week was wonderful too.

Thanksgiving Road Trip

Tomorrow, I load up my car, my two kids and my dog and drive from the flatlands of the midwest to the mountains of North Carolina. I dread the 12 hours in the car, but love the scenery and mountain air once we arrive. It takes a day or two to decompress from suburban Chicago, and acclimatize to the mountains, but it is always worth the trip. Hubby is flying in a few days later, so we will spend a lovely day in Asheville when we pick him up.

We will not cook a turkey dinner. We will not see either of our families, who live twice as far away on the east coast. We will not be lonely, nor will they. We will eat a fancy dinner, be waited on, walk away from the dishes and go home for a nap. We will reconnect our little family, hike and play cards or games, and talk about all that we have to be thankful for in our lives. It is our new tradition, and it suits us just fine.

Here are a few pictures from last year, when we were still weak from swine flu but thankful anyway. It was a very introspective trip, thanks to the illness. This year we are inoculated and will not have to suffer for our solitude.

Maybe I'll skip the meal and just head to the dessert table - Yum!

I wish everyone a healthy and happy Thanksgiving. For those who cook and host, I hope someone steps in and helps you in the kitchen.

Bless your hearts.

Thankful anyway

It was not the trip I had planned, to drive 13 hours so I could lay in bed next to my husband, both shivering and coughing for 3 straight days. Beautiful weather, lovely hills, and the flu. Our stomach muscles ache from coughing, heads still ache and stomachs still churn, 8 days later. Ugh, H1N1 sucks. I almost cracked on day 6, fighting the urge to cry like a baby all day. It didn't help that I missed my Dad something fierce, he seemed so present in those hills he loved. Childhood memories flitted through my mind and welled my eyes with tears, which thankfully hid among the sneezes and runny nose.

No, it was not the trip I had planned, but I will count my blessings:

Our kids are old enough to take care of themselves and the dog, allowing us the luxury of our weak, sickly states, and they're either immune, or have already caught it this year, hidden among the littany of sick days this fall.
We were able to make the return drive safely, taking turns while the kids slept, read or pinched each other out of boredom. We show no signs of pneumonia or further complications, despite our lingering symptoms. And best of all, I can stop obsessing and worrying about the lack of vaccines, and the chance that we might get sick. We did, and here we are. One less catastrophe looming in my little worry filled world.

No, it wasn't the Thanksgiving vacation we were looking forward to, but we have much to be thankful for.  Sunshine and scenery, and snow that passed us by, and mostly, each other, in sickness and in health.