Take Me Home

Inspirational song: Wake Up Sunshine (Chicago)

I will never forget the road trip. We had gone with a whole bunch of our friends to a camping event in Texas. We had dropped off most of the people who were riding with us in our van, and we had one teenaged friend with us still. It was barely six in the morning, and we had driven all night to get home. We were coming in to Boulder from the south, along Broadway, and we were two stoplights from home. I looked over at Mr S-P who was driving, and his chin was drooping toward his chest and his eyes were closed. I said his name in a sharp, loud voice and he jerked his head up and gasped when he realized he was still operating the vehicle. "Aw..." he moaned, "I had parked the van and was inside the house climbing in to bed." He was in full dream sleep driving down one of the biggest streets through that part of town. I was not quite that out of it driving back from Boulder tonight, but it was a close thing a couple times. He had to come back and get me from our daughter's place, where I was helping her tidy up, and he was asleep before I cleared the edge of town. I could have used a little conversation to keep me alert, but he needed his sleep. Now that I'm home, I'm going to turn in soon and sleep off the residual grogginess from the benedryl that's keeping me alive these days.

Today was an important step in fully accepting that we are home to stay. We had our first family gathering since we returned, with all of my in-laws. Feeling welcomed into the fold and not feeling like we were completely living out of a suitcase felt really good. I made them all promise that I will get to host something soon, so that I can prove that I really do cook. For twenty years we were the ones bringing chips or a store-bought veggie tray because we were only in town for a couple days without kitchen facilities. We finally have time to get up to date on everyone's activities, and not feel like we have to cram six months worth of living into three hours worth of conversation. After twenty years, I will get to relax. What luxury!

My in-laws who hosted have a big yard at the base of the mountains, and when we were much younger, Mr S-P and I used a corner of it for gardening when we were stuck in apartments with no green space. There are even still a few blackberries still growing in the upper corner of the yard, despite my brother-in-law's best efforts to chop them back. We volunteered to dig up a few canes and transplant them to various places, including our new yard and the claim. For that matter, I asked my sister-in-law whether she would mind if I came in and thinned out a few of her well-established plants and propagated a few to put in my new Park. She has several of the species I am looking to acquire, like Russian sage, lavender, and iris, plus and few I haven't identified yet, but I like and want to kidnap. I took lots of pictures today to help me plan my plant - thieving. Now, if we could just close on that house.