After spending the morning finishing up loading the U-Haul, completing two loads of laundry, and saying our family goodbyes, Jaime (niece, 18) and I hit the highway at 1230. Robin (sister-in-law) and I were talking earlier about the luck of having so much commotion currently taking place in and around the Bristow family. The little ones, and even the adults to some degree, have not been able to focus on our departure. End of school madness, Jaime's graduation, and the excitement of an upcoming family vacation kept attentions elsewhere. In fact, when I gave my final squeeze to Jack (nephew, 11) he said, "I'll see you in a week" thinking we were saying goodbye due to their departure, not our own.
The U-Haul is quite comfortable. We were able to pad the middle area so a homemade bench seat affords the stretching out of Goldendoodle legs. That said, Bailey is a dog that likes to sit in one's lap. On several occasions I'd look over and she would be sprawled out across Jaime's knees. At one point she took the lap offer as far as she could and climbed right up on top of Jaime. That lasted for a good deal longer than I expected, then Jaime decided she would own the middle seat and give Bailey the rights to the window seat. The things we do for our dogs.
The pleasure of this particular cross-country trip is in having no specific deadline awaiting us in California. We have a "would really like to be there by" date, but if it gets blown out of the water, we'll deal. That gives us ease in travels, daily miles driven, and much less stress on my shoulders. We have three main stops to catch; other than that, we are open to whatever adventure God has planned.
Halfway through the day Jaime and I received a joint text from Robin. It contained the below picture and the words, “Miss you already!” We replied with sad faces of our own.
As the day draws to a close I find myself having a discussion with the hotel pillow in this fine establishment. It simply will not do. When I lay my head down it remains in an upright position due to the magnitude of the pillow stuffing. Wrestling with it this way and that way, pulling it down, smacking it in the middle ... nothing helps. In the end I get up, pull the two small towels from the bathroom, shove them inside one of my tee shirts and tah dah, an appropriately sized pillow has been born. Jaime laughed at my pathetic creation, but I slept well! Tomorrow night my head shall slumber on a feather pillow brought in from the U-Haul. I'm just too lazy to go get it right now. :)
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