7 Road Trip Highlights and 1 Cliche

I had an unusual week and didn’t get my blog written. However, here’s a little account of my quiet adventures if you like. I’ve listed 7 highlights, with a few photos following for those who enjoy photos.

1. Pinning a nurse pin on a graduating nurse. Graduating nurses can select any RN to put their pin on, and friend Missy asked if I would do this. It was fun to be reminded of how hard nursing school was and how glad I am for her that she’s finished and for myself that I’m finished! Since it was a Wednesday ceremony, I went alone and Marnell stayed home and worked.
2. Rhubarb pie at Dad’s. Wednesday night, my family got together. It was Priscilla’s birthday, and I’m afraid we forgot to sing for her. When it was time for everyone to go home, Uncle Jay told a story upon request, about the turkey he shot the other day. Uncle Jay’s stories are big events for the younger crowd. And they give Uncle Jay a chance to brag about his hunting skills, so maybe they are big events for him too. 🙂
3. A sleepover with Mya, 5 years old. At 5am, a storm started with thunder and lightning and we both woke up. “When a storm comes in the night, I get scared if I’m not sleeping with someone,” she confided.
4. Breakfast with my sisters. In addition to refreshing conversation, I noticed a plastic container on the counter labeled with a black Sharpie: Cliche-A-Day. You know those tiring platitudes that are supposed to sound sympathetic and intelligent, but are actually neither? My one sister wrote down some of these overused expressions on slips of paper as a little daily humor for my other sister and put them in the plastic container so she could pull out one slip each day. I told her she should go into business. Who wouldn’t warm to a Cliche-a-Day?
5. Singing Happy Birthday to two handsome men who turned 8 on Thursday. I guess I got distracted and forgot to take any more photos. But what’s not to like about a dog, a doghouse, and a boy on top of the doghouse?
6. Stopping at my brother Scott’s house and buying delightful items at their produce stand. Scott and Priscilla’s twins turn 5 today, by the way. Those twins were recently described by older sister Alyssa when she was admonishing her younger sister. She said, “Violet, the Bible says love one another so Aaron is one and Eric is another.” Scott was on the phone when I stopped by, so I didn’t get to quiz him any further about how he rallied a following at the O’Hare airport after his flight home was canceled, and ended up driving the remaining several hundred miles with two complete strangers in a rented car. “This is what happens when you tell three guys from Wisconsin that they aren’t going home tonight,” the 26-year-old reportedly said as they rode the train to the rental car place. The 48-year-old climbed behind the wheel of the rental car, set the cruise at 83, and didn’t stop until they arrived at Central Wisconsin Airport. Yes, this is my same brother Scott who dug through mail in the back room of the Ghanaian embassy to find his passport and narrowly made his flight a few hours later. Wouldn’t it be fun to have such an exciting life?
7. Stopping at Promontory Point, and that cloud. On the way home–after banning the chocolate chip cookies to the trunk so I could not keep reaching over and grabbing them–I decided to swing by the old favorite spot. The traffic was awful, but when I arrived the weather was beautiful. I walked around the point by the water and had a brief chat with a stranger from India. We figured out that we were both Christians. We talked about Mennonites, Muslims, and learning Spanish. I then headed home, following a gloriously brilliant cloud with parts that looked like cotton, and parts that looked like cauliflower and parts that looked like a horse’s mane. The cloud had an anvil top pressed against the roof of the sky, and a midsection blazing red gold in the setting sun. I think that cloud will be in heaven, or maybe there was a little of heaven in that cloud. It was dark by the time I arrived but I found Marnell up the street chatting with our neighbor Peter. I gave them cookies, and unpacked my things.

Just so you get your daily dose, I will end with a cliche: there’s no place like home!