I start getting this anxiety weeks before I leave, and it's not the usual thinking the plane is going to crash anxiety - although I'm sure that has to cross everyone's mind at some point, especially with the recent horrible events.
My problem - and I've bored everyone within listening distance - is that I'm afraid of doing the wrong things and making the wrong decisions. Mike always loved flying, so I pretty much followed and let him do all the planning, and it was easy. Now there are so many worries. Dates, airlines, prices, seats, rental cars, times, forgetting things, taking things that will get me in trouble. Etc. I don't fly enough to get familiar with things, although I have to admit it is getting a little easier.
All four of my flights were on time, uncomplicated, smooth takeoffs and landings, and polite people around me. I chose aisle seats this time near the back, and going to the bathroom was simple as could be. I did have to get jostled a little bit by others walking by me and bumped by the drink cart a time or two.
This time, I printed my boarding pass the night before and had the cute little bar code on my phone that I see everyone else using. I've learned to check my heavier carry-on bag at the gate and not have to worry about stuffing it overhead. I've learned how to get around in the Atlanta airport better. Seattle and Montgomery are pretty easy. I've learned the ins and outs of renting a car and that if it has a push-button starter, you NEED to have the brake on before pushing it. This car had all kinds of pictures and warnings about it, so I didn't make any jarring mistakes. I've learned that not all rental car lights are on automatic when I get them, and driving a few miles without lights last time was a good lesson to me to check them.
I made a mental note of which side of the car the gas tank was on, so when I pulled up to the gas pump to leave town, I didn't anticipate a problem. Then I realized I didn't know how to get the little gas door open. I looked in the usual places in the car.
It should be right here, I thought. I looked and looked, and then I mentioned it to the girl at the next pump - young enough to know things about newer cars. She came over and looked and looked and then got out her phone and did a Google search on Nisson Sentra release buttons. She said it was pretty complicated, so I was about to get out the manual, when I did one last search, kind of standing on my head - and there it was. WAY under the above buttons.
I was just glad I didn't have to embarrass myself by going into the store and asking someone else.
I have to say, though, that that was about the only glitch in the whole trip. We had to go almost to Canada on the way back to avoid thunderstorms but had very little turbulence.
And I failed to bring enough reading material. I finished my only book while I was there and didn't think to take another one. I considered buying one in Atlanta, but my cheap side took over, and I just suffered.
Once there, the trip turned out to be great. The weather was perfect, although I didn't get that storm I was hoping for. The azaleas had stopped blooming, but everything was lush and green, and the temperatures were perfect - cool in the morning and evening and warming up to not very hot during the day.
I took a few pictures outside. Not enough. I would always plan to do more in the mornings, but by evening, I was just ready to get home and get in bed.
I sat near this window in Montgomery for about an hour and charged my phone and enjoyed this peaceful view and answered emails and texts and made lists. Once I got to my gate, there were a lot of military guys and girls getting ready to go to San Antonio. They were headed for Air Force Basic Training, and it was amazing how many of them had never flown - just listening to the conversation around me. One little guy from Snead, FL, drilled me about how it felt (flying), did I like it, was I scared, etc. Why did I live in Washington? Why was I here? I found out about his life too, and it made the waiting seem shorter. Once on the planes though, I like silent seat companions! And got them.
I took these on Antioch Road on the way from Alan and Kathy's house. It's a pretty road and one that most of my great aunts and uncles used to live on. I can see the land where there houses were, but they are long gone.
Mama and Daddy's house in Green Acres looks well kept. At first I thought that was an Alabama sign out front and laughed to think what Daddy would have said about that! Then Kathy looked closer and told me it was an Andalusia Bulldogs sign. I'm glad someone is taking care of it.
Hooper's Pond down the hill was looking good too. Just so peaceful.
This crazy-eyed guy was sitting in the back of a pick-up truck when we finished eating at Larry's Barbecue on Monday night and let me take his or her picture.
I got acquainted with another dog or two this trip, but that will have to wait until later. My first day back is just about to come to an end, but I have to mention all our eating places.
Kathy and Alan and I went out three times during the week. First was a Mexican Restaurant, Old Mexico, I think, where Alan is able to communicate well in Spanish with the owners - things like telling him not to let me pay. I had had a late lunch, so I only got a small dish of cheese enchiladas, but they were good as well as the chips and queso blanco - I think that's right. Always fun there.
Carol and I planned a few lunches, but life kept getting in the way, or we would sit and talk until too late to make plans. But one day we did try this new place, and it was a great experience. It's called Java Time, a drive though coffee and tea place with a nice menu of drinks and salads and wraps and other things we didn't have a chance to check out. The FaceBook page has a lot of good pictures and a partial menu. I wish I had known they had cranberry scones. I would have gotten one for breakfast before I left.
We missed the menu somehow when we drove around it and ended up at the window with the girl handing us a menu. We got a ham and Swiss wrap, but the wrap was a crepe and very light and fresh-tasting. I don't remember what we had to drink, I think Carol a coffee and me something cold but nothing exciting. There are little tables set up outside, and we ate there and talked for about an hour with the wind blowing in the good spring smells and just enjoying life. The people there were so nice. I hope it's successful.
One day, a friend of mine for many years, Jan, brought us a cup of coffee to the nursing home, and we sat in the visitor room and talked and drank coffee and just had a wonderful time. We talked though lunch and never even thought about eating! It was perfect and so fun to catch up with each other's lives. We need to do this more than once every year or so, but we do have email and texting!
I should have taken pictures of all this food, but another place Kathy and Alan took me was Chen's Garden. It's a huge place with a huge buffet, which is what we had. Chinese is not my favorite food, but what I got was great, all the usual chicken, beef, and shrimp dishes, and a crab and cheese casserole that was so good I had seconds. Any place that has fried okra is okay with me. Two servings of that also.
And finally my last night there, Kathy decided she wanted a Larry's Barbecue baked potato. I had never heard of such, but they both both got one and said it was very good. This is not a picture of theirs - just off their Facebook page.
I ended up with a barbecue wrap - also something I had never tried - and I liked it a lot - not a huge amount of barbecue but just enough with some lettuce and cheese in a wrap - and, of course, more fried okra. I may not have gotten the thunderstorm in South Alabama, but I got my fried okra!
It seems like I ate a lot, but I was there for 6-1/2 days! The main thing was the fun and fellowship of family and friends. Nothing like it! We laughed so much and sometimes cried a little and did have some serious conversations - but it always came back to just people making me feel at home.
Tomorrow I'll write about homes and people. The nursing home and Mama. Kathy and Alan and Allie. Carol, David and their sweet family. And we can't forget Dean's Cake House.
Carol and I sat in Mama's nursing home room and lamented the fact that we didn't ask that generation more questions and find out as much as we could, because now it's too late. I hope Graysen and Katherine will get some pleasure out of knowing some things we did and seeing some pictures. I do need to go back and write down a lot of things I remember about my own childhood as well as Mike's. It just seem so MUCH, but I know they would like to know about their family one day.
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