Odds and Ends Again

Just a few more pictures from the wedding.

Lydia sent these pictures of Jacob enjoying his Uncle Fuddy-Duddy books. So cute. All scrubbed and ready for bed. I couldn't chose just one. It's a pretty happy time for Lydia and her family having her parents move back to Georgia from Kansas and getting settled themselves in their new home of Columbus.

For the 1 or 2 people who haven't heard my adventure on getting from Montgomery to Tuscaloosa (normally about 2-1/2 hours), here it is. No excuses. Just blame it on age and my usual state of being scatter-brained. I hate that I've lost my title as Chief Navigator for the family though. I've always loved finding new ways to get places and was thought to have a good sense of direction.

Anyway, after much preparation and cat-catching and double-checking after Debby arrived, we set off for Tuscaloosa - which involves taking I-85 S to I-65 N. Simple enough. Except that I had the wrong wedding in mind and took I-85 N toward Atlanta. Debby had printed directions from Google Maps very nicely and pulled them out, but I heard her mutter one time, "These maps are no good. They don't even have Auburn on them."

Still didn't occur to me what I was doing. Just about the time we got near the turn-off for Columbus, I thought about the time change and remembered how that got us in trouble last year preparing for Emily and Ryan's wedding. Then the wheels starting turning. Time change? The time doesn't change between Montgomery and Tuscaloosa. Why are we headed to Georgia? Lots of wailing and laughing and panic from the front seat. Mama said later from the back seat that she knew all along that wasn't the way to Tuscaloosa but didn't say anything. Thanks!

It took Debby about 2 minutes to text Mike and Tom and probably everyone else she knew and tell them what I'd done. Mike suggested letting Mama drive. Then I had to put up with suggestions about not taking I-65 S and ending up in Mobile.

My first thought was to take a smaller road that I knew went from Columbus to Birmingham, so I called my brother and asked what he would do. He said it was best to go back to Montgomery and carry on on the interstates. I hate backtracking, but that's what we did. Luckily we had allowed a little extra time - but not 2 hours - so I gave up my leisurely driving and went as fast as I could and stay within the speed limit. When we got back to Montgomery, we decided to eat lunch there - 2 miles from where we started out 2 hours ago.

Luckily the rest of the trip went better except for hearing about it all day. We arrived 5 hours after we set out. Mama was due for pictures in 30 minutes, and the check-in person at the hotel seemed to be in a coma. It took 20 minutes to check in 3 sets of people.

Later someone innocently asked me how long it took me to get from Montgomery to Tuscaloosa (thinking they would go to Montgomery after the wedding), and I said "Two-and-half hours if you don't go by way of Georgia."

I've had all the rain I could wish for this week, so I'm in a good mood. Work's going well again. Life is pretty good.

We need to remember the people of Guatemala in our prayers. Dina sent this today. It's very sad. Dina and Gaby and their families and homes weren't directly affected, but there are so many people who were, and so much work to do to get it back to normal. One disaster is hard enough to cope with, but 3 in one week? Awful. Those sinkhole pictures are enough to give me nightmares.