I got back from my visit to Illinois to see my grandmother late last night. I had a nice time with my mom, grandma, aunts, uncles, and cousins; and I'm really glad I went. I was also extremely glad to get home. My grandma has always lived an exceptionally busy life as a farmer with a quadriplegic husband who she cared for single-handedly, and five children. She never had much time for housekeeping, and she's unable to part with ANYTHING. When my grandpa was alive, the house stayed relatively neat because they had to be able to get his wheelchair around the house. In the fourteen years since he's died, the house has become something you might see on an episode of hoarders. Since my grandma is older and slower, and spends all of her time either gardening or cooking, she still doesn't focus on housekeeping, and the house has become unpleasant. While I still love getting out on the farm and seeing the people, I just can't ever stay in that house again. There's not a surface in the place that isn't covered in dust, cat hair, and dog hair.
Getting there was a real adventure. Our flight from Denver got loaded and was ready to leave a couple of minutes early when the pilot came on the PA system and announced that there was a light on that maintenance had to check. He said it would only take 15 or 20 minutes. So over an hour later, we were finally airborne. Our layover was only 1/2 hour to begin with, so we were going to be cutting it extremely close. We got to Detroit and walked off the jetway and into the terminal at 9:30, and our connecting flight was supposed to be leaving at 9:33. But instead of a gate number next to our flight, it showed already departed. Of course there were no more flights from Detroit to the small airport in Bloomington, Illinois that night. We stood in line for a few minutes listening to the airline employee telling the people in front of us that they might be able to get on the 6:00 am flight, but it was already oversold. I turned to my mom and told her we were getting a rental car and driving the six hours to my grandma's house. So we got in at 3:20 on Thursday morning.
Coming home didn't start out any better. My grandma doesn't have a computer, and I couldn't even get cell service at her house, so we were planning on printing our boarding passes at the airport yesterday afternoon. But when I went to print them, they were for this morning. So I went up to the counter where I was told that since the flight would be delayed leaving Bloomington so we would miss our connecting flight in Atlanta, that we had been automatically rebooked. I told the gentleman behind the counter that after having problems on the way out and having to improvise, I intended to get home last night. So he changed our flight to Minneapolis, and put us on a connecting flight with another airline. He was very helpful and got us good seats on both of the return flights. So we ended up getting back to Denver at about the same time we had originally planned and I got home a little after 10 pm last night.
I really enjoyed being outside with no one else around. We helped my grandma to pick 13 gallons of tomatoes and 3 gallons of cucumbers out of her garden. We pulled pears, apples, and peaches off of the trees in her orchard and ate fresh fruit. I visited with my cousins and took lots of pictures of their adorable children. I got to hang out with my grandma who will be 89 in November and watch her still get around the farm and do all the steps in her house. She's not as quick as she once was, but she still goes. I got to see my aunt who just turned 64 and isn't doing very well. I'm not sure how much longer she'll be with us, so we took my grandma to her house several times to hang out with my aunt. I got to go for walks (never did find time for a run) and listen to nothing but the cicadas and the wind in the corn.
The time away from the stresses at work wondering about the long-term stability of my company and my job was exactly what I needed. Getting to hang out with people who are very different from me and still love me unconditionally was pretty wonderful. Traveling with my mom and getting some time to visit with her without constant interruptions from my children was also pretty great.
I am always reminded of how much I appreciate my husband when I spend time away from him. So I intend to fully enjoy his company tonight. I was planning on posting a few of pictures on here, but our internet is down tonight. Sigh... #FirstWorldProblems
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