There’s No Place Like Home

As many of you know, if you read Hannah’s column last week, or just know about our annual trip, Jimmy and I recently returned from a week+long “vacation.”

Now, mind you, I planned the trip for the most part, and I am not blaming anyone but myself. But, next year I’ll fly.

Jimmy’s mother celebrated her 85th birthday last week, and we went to see her for the occasion, a practice we began many years ago.

For her 75th birthday she took the children and grandchildren on a cruise. I’ve always said it was the most expensive gift I ever got. (She paid for the cabins; we were on our own after that. If you’ve ever cruised you know what else there is—excursions, tips, drinks, photos, you name it.)

For her 80th, the kids all pitched in and gave her a big party, inviting much of her large Italian family and friends, and even her Georgia grandchildren and great-grands made the trip. It’s a long way, and the Georgia kids don’t make the trip very often.

Mom lives in Delaware, just across the state line from Ocean City, Maryland, which is a huge vacation spot in those parts. From here it is 10+ hours of hard driving, and Jimmy and I don’t do hard driving. Partly because my dad always stretched bathroom breaks when I was a child, and partly cause I need to stretch my legs, Jimmy and I stop frequently.

Now, we can make good time, the stops don’t have to be long, just frequent. But, we stop to smell the roses, or check out the grills, or look at wildlife along the way, so we don’t do a lot of hard driving.

I determined years ago this body could not do more than eight hours in the car, and I prefer to limit it to six. Since it’s 10ish to Maryland and a little further straight to Delaware, we stop and stay somewhere overnight on the way.

So, we left Wednesday, Feb. 13, once the paper was at the printer. We made it to Fayetteville, N.C. which we have determined is pretty much halfway. Not bad for leaving after noon. So, we stayed the night there, then headed further north. The first stop was at the home of some old friends. We had planned two nights with them, two nights with Jimmy’s nephew, and two nights with Mom.

Well, we stayed our two nights at Tom and Martha’s, then headed to Albert and Jessica’s. We arrived around midday and spent Saturday night with them. Lots of family and friends gathered and we had a blast.

Of course, it’s fun to see Albert and Jessica and their family anyway, because there’s so much to see. They have four, yes four, beautiful little girls. I almost said four blonde girls, but the baby’s hair is a little darker. The four girls are currently six, four, three, and five months. The six and four year olds will be seven and five in July.

In addition to seeing them, their cousins all came over. That included Owen and Lizzy, and Maggie and Charlie. Lizzy is another little blonde beauty who could be mistaken as a sister to her cousins, so we have four blondes between the ages of three and six to keep straight.

You see why we need to visit often. I don’t mean to leave out Maggie or the boys, but Maggie is the oldest and looks just like her mom so we have no trouble keeping her straight. And, there’s only two boys, with several years between them, so they’re easy too.

Also, Jimmy’s brother Ray, and his wife, Heidi, live nearby and came over to visit with us. They’ve figured out it’s easier for Albert and Jessica to host out-of-town guests, cause that way they don’t have to load their brood up to go to Grandma’s.

But I didn’t start out to try to explain the family tree, just to suffice it to say it is lots of fun to visit the family.

Anyway, we were going to spend two nights there. But, plans changed, because all the grandkids up there wanted to see Mom for her birthday too, so everybody—kids, grandchildren, great-grandchildren—loaded up Sunday morning and headed for a hotel in Ocean City that has an indoor pool. That way the kids get to have fun, and everyone gets to see Mom or G-Mom for her birthday.

Jimmy and I weren’t real keen on swimming, so we used that time to visit with Mom at her condo. After a while, she joined us for the ride to the hotel. We had asked for rooms together at the hotel, and together we were.

Our room joined that of Albert and Jessica and the four girls. So we opened the door, and had two rooms for the 18 of us to socialize in. For a little while, the kids were mostly in the other room and the adults in ours, but not for long.

And Sunday night, the 18 of the us trouped into the restaurant to have Mom’s birthday dinner. It was great fun.

But, if you’re keeping count, now we are fixing to sleep in our fourth bed of the week-long trip.

Monday morning dawns, and the little children and their families head home, while we head back to Mom’s. Monday is her actual birthday and we take her to breakfast, then the three of us head to a nearby casino for a little fun.

Back to her house that evening, then birthday dinner out. It was great. And, it was time to head home.

Tuesday morning, we got up at Mom’s and had coffee, then hugged Mom bye, and headed south. A night on the road on the way home, and our arrival here Wednesday afternoon.

Seven nights, six beds, an inordinate number of restrooms, boy there’s no place like home.

While on the road, I told Jimmy I was going to write a column about toilet paper and he looked at me like I was crazy. And, I intended to include it here, but it has gotten too long already since I went through the family tree, so maybe next week I can tell you all the places establishments find to place toilet paper, and the quality of such, or maybe I’ll just keep it to myself.

For the moment, though, believe me, I am really enjoying my bed, my bathrooms, and my choice of toilet tissue. There really is no place like home.