I can’t
believe this month is nearly over! It
turned out to be fairly eventful what with one thing and another happening.
Hillary started back to her day program in the beginning of the month and she
couldn’t be happier about being able to spend time with the staff, even though
they are new to her and she to them and her peers for a few hours every
day. Of course, there had to be
paperwork to be filled out by her doctor before she could go so I was busy with
making the appointment and filling out forms and making phone calls but all was
accomplished in less than 2 weeks so I thought that was good, all things
considered. For now I am her
transportation which keeps me on somewhat of a schedule so that’s not a bad
thing. The down side is that if my van
is out of commission she can’t go which is the case today. Hopefully it will be repaired and we’ll have
it back before Monday. Fingers crossed! We took a little road trip to stay with my
husband’s family for a reunion weekend.
It turned out nice, but the drive up was not. First the traffic came to a sudden stop on a
highway and we were in the left most lane when I saw an 18 wheeler passing us
on the median very close to all the vehicles.
My husband was driving and he said the truck had been about 6 cars back
and was going too fast to stop so thank goodness the driver had the sense to
use the median to avoid hitting anyone in what would surely have been a tragic
accident! Shortly after that, traffic
resumed and we saw that the reason it had stopped was because someone broke
down on the right shoulder and a tow truck was there with blinking lights which
I suppose caused people to want to look.
I never understand why traffic comes to a screeching halt when something
is happening on the shoulder but I guess that’s just the way we humans are—curious! So a couple miles after that there was
suddenly the deafening sound of 20 motorcycles except there were not
motorcycles or trucks near us. It was
us! Something to do with the muffler/exhaust
system broke, and we were miles from an exit.
Frantically I googled car repair shops in the area where we were, and
after asking at a rest stop and then at an information center at the end of an
exit ramp we wound our way through a village or two (sounding
like a jet plane by now) to a muffler repair chain. There we spent 6 hours, on arguably one of
the hottest, most oppressive days of the year in their little waiting/office
area with 2 local gentlemen who had their cars in for service, and an
assortment of other locals there for inspection, and one for a flat tire. As our van was up on the lift in a service
bay, we had no access to the snacks or drinks we brought for the 4 hour drive
we expected, so my husband walked to a little shop maybe ½ mile away and
brought back cheese doodles and bottled water.
It was the most delicious bag of doodles and water I ever had! We were thankful that we had an air-conditioned
place to wait and a clean restroom to use. The people were very nice, the girl
running the office was very nice and adept at calming people upset about not
having any appointments available that day or because their service was taking
too long. The most interesting patron
was a gray haired hippie and his companion, a well behaved little dog who he
said belonged to his granddaughter originally.
The counter girl gave the dog a bowl of water, and the man made small
talk with everyone there while he waited.
We were thankful that we had such pleasant company and not someone
talking loudly on a cell phone the whole time.
Once we were back on the road, with the van patched enough to drive, the
gps took us not back to the superhighway, but along roads through the
countryside which was pleasant. By the
time we stopped for dinner there were thunder clouds overhead and the rain
began while we were wolfing down our fish sandwiches in the car. About an hour later we were safe in the arms
of family and they helped bring in our things.
It was still stifling hot and oppressive despite it being 9:00 pm and in
the mountains, but the weather broke during the night and it was more bearable
the next day, which was the day the cousins were coming for a cookout. It was a
sunny and breezy day marked by hugs, laughter and chatter, rides on an ATV to
see the property, (the host lives on 74+ acres of forest), my husband played
the bagpipes and those who didn’t leave after that stayed for a campfire and
some fireworks shot off by members of the family. It was a fun but exhausting long weekend
away. Sprinkled in among the rest of the
days this month there were breakfasts and lunches out with my friends and
family, a game day, and various projects I’ve kept busy with. Yesterday the van decided it was time to have
the permanent repair made and suddenly on my way home from a trip to Target I
sounded like a jet plane again! Thus the
van is in the shop to be repaired and we are staying home for today. It’s still oppressively hot and humid, but
supposed to be better by the middle of next week, which is when September
begins!
If you looked at my calendar it doesn’t look like it was a busy month, but the calendar doesn’t tell the whole story. At least it went fast—time flies when you’re busy!
