Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Home again, Home again

This morning I sat on my mom's front porch, one last time, enjoying the cool morning breeze while I waited for my family to get ready to head for home. I'm afraid that I'm not going to be that cool again for a long, long time. Last night the boys were all for leaving for Arizona at 3:00 AM, but today they had a hard time getting out of couch or off the floor, as the case may be. We finally got everything loaded up and were headed out about 8:30 AM Utah time, which was only 7:30 AM Arizona time, so not too bad. It's always hard for me to say good bye to my mom and this morning my sister was there too so that made it even harder. I always feel like I am going to miss out on something fun when I leave. My mom was probably waiting for the front door to close so she could start singing the Hallelujah Chorus. I'm sure it is a relief to get rid of all the company and get back to her quiet life. (However today we left just in time for my sister, brother-in-law, their 2 sons, 1 wife and 4 kids to arrive. No peace and quiet yet!) The newlyweds headed north, and then east, to Colorado to visit with the son-in-law's grandparents while we headed south toward home. It was another uneventful trip, which I was grateful for. The sons decided that maybe if they took control of the driving we would make better time so the oldest one even drove the stretch from Hurricane to Flagstaff and the hubby and I lounged in the backseat watching a movie and a couple of episodes of Walker, Texas Ranger. I have to admit, the time did seem to go a lot faster. We made pretty good time and arrived home about 7:00 PM, following a stop at Cafe Rumba in Glendale for my favorite Tropical Chicken Salad. The salad was good, but not as absolutely delicious as I remember. Perhaps the fact that I had been snacking all day made the difference. I just wasn't hungry enough to fully appreciate it. The cat-feeding, house-watching, nursery-teaching daughter and her roommates/son's girlfriend and her puppy welcomed us with much enthusiasm. I think Poky was the most excited. She had to share all her toys with us that she had hidden under the chair. However, the girlfriend also seemed happy and the other 2 girls were enthusiastic about the Rumba salads we delivered to them. The daughter had bought "welcome home cake" and we celebrated together after the hubby spent 30 minutes on the phone with Qwest getting the internet fixed. They talked him through the steps and although he didn't follow all of their instructions to the letter it is now working again. Hopefully for a LONG time. I guess it is good to be home. I just which I could figure out a way to not let the extreme heat get me down. As we were driving into Maricopa county things started looking like home and I do like living here, but honestly - which would you choose??? Actually, the 61 degrees was while we were enjoying a brief rainstorm in Flagstaff. When we left Payson it was 68 degrees, so technically if I want to be cool I only have to move 2 and a half hours north and not 12 hours north, but then I wouldn't be by any family. The past week Phoenix has had below normal temperatures (low hundreds) but now we're home and they're going up! Less than 4 months more of 100+ temperatures and then I'll remember why I live in Tempe. We have beautiful winters! Tonight I am grateful for A mom - who lets my family and me invade her home so we can have a vacation. A welcoming committee - who made us feel missed and loved. An uneventful trip - Those are the very best kind to have.

1 comment:

Angela said...

It sounds like you had a great trip in Utah. My mom said the reunion at the park was well attended and fun. We will be happy to have my parents back here. They have been gone the four weeks of summer that we have been around.