Maybe this is weird, but I like days that are a mix of good and bad, or at least challenge and ease, more than days that are pure good. Parts of this day were extremely challenging but the good parts made up for it -- and then some. I may have said last night that I treated my son and granddaughters to a night in a hotel with an indoor pool. They went swimming, and the pool was supposed to close at 10:00 but management kept it open for them until 11:00. That's what they told me this morning; I was asleep before they got back to the room. I slept great! This morning my son's alarm went off, and I couldn't figure out why he had it set for 6:30 when he didn't have to be at work until 9:00 and we were only twenty minutes away from his building. It was so he could go to Starbucks early and get us tasty coffee. That was fantastic!
After he went to work and I finally got my granddaughters ready to go to my aunt's house, the snow started. A half hour into our drive, we were in a blinding blizzard. I seriously could not see anything beyond the car ahead of me and the roads were a mess. Fortunately, my rental car's four-wheel drive feature came in very handy. It got worse and worse, but I really wanted to see my aunt and the rest of my family who could come to her house, so I pressed on. I would have been in the same mess if I'd turned around, and I was so close! We got there and I kept a firm grip on my younger granddaughter as we crossed the street and climbed the steep steps. When I got inside and my uncle greeted me with a kiss, and I saw some of my cousins waiting to give hugs and kisses, every minutes of challenge and stress dissolved and I was so happy. My aunt was in the kitchen whipping up wonderful-smelling things, and she stopped to get the girls some coffee cake and cocoa. I visited with everyone for a while, and I looked up and saw one of my cousins I hadn't seen for more than twenty years. He was standing in the doorway waiting for me to notice him. When I did, I was so happy I thought I would cry. We were very close when we were little kids and teenagers, and I don't think I had realized until that moment how much I had missed him. His mom, my aunt, was there too, and I hadn't seen her for probably forty years. His brother and sister were there too, and it had been a long time since I'd seen them too. It was great. I know I'm being repetitive in my word choice, but there aren't words that can sum up the feelings I had being with all of these relatives after so much time.
I could go on and on -- and I sort of already have -- but I'll stop there. The only other thing I will say is that my aunt sent me off with a ziti, and said (because I had to leave early), "I didn't even get to feed you!" I told her I hadn't come for the food; I'd come because I love her and wanted to see her. I need to make an effort to get in more visits more often.
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