Road Warrior

unday I made my longest car trip ever! I drove back from Massachusetts all by myself - 833 miles and it took me 13 hours, plus a 45 minute nap. I was pretty nervous before I started...that's a long ass ride, but to be honest, it wasn't that bad. Seriously, I could do it again, and even when I pulled into the driveway I felt like I could have kept going. On the advice of a few others I snagged an audiobook - Dan Brown's "Angels & Demons". It was nice to listen to that...I left at 9:30 and listened to the book until after 4:00. The only disappointing part was that I wasn't going to be able to finish it on my trip. I wonder if I know anyone that owns the book...oh well.

The trip to MA wasn't too bad. As always, it was great to see my family. The purpose of the trip was to spread my grandfather's ashes in his garden. It was a short little ceremony, if you want to call it that. My mom spoke for a moment, then spread some of the ashes in the garden. Then she gave the bag to my aunt and she spread more throughout the garden. It was emotional to watch, but I didn't really cry. A few tears did roll when my mom's voice started shaking. As I've said before, he was ready to go and if that's the case, there's no reason for me to be upset. What was upsetting about the trip was seeing my grandmother upset. At one point she hugged my mom as mom was spreading some ashes in a flowerbed, and it seemed like she just leaned into my mom so much. It was a heavy hug, and it's hard to see my grandmother like that. It was also hard to listen to her yell and argue with my mom later on. My grandmother doesn't want to stay in her house all alone with all of those responsibilities, so she's moving to a senior living facility near the rest of my family. She's excited about going, but yet it's hard to leave the house she's lived in for almost 60 years. Especially when that place is significantly smaller. She'll just have to get there and see how everything is going to fit, and throw stuff out later if need be.

Have I mentioned that I'm going on vacation soon? 15 more days! I am SO excited. I think this is my first real vacation. Well, I did go on a cruise when I was in college - but that's all I can think of. I've got a few new bathing suits (thank you Old Navy), some new shorts & tanks. A couple of friends, a beach house resort and a boat, it's gonna be awesome!!!