Extra Moments

Sometimes coming home can be so bittersweet. As we head north today, I am excited to be returning home. At the same time however, I hate to see our road trip adventure come to an end.

Yesterday we visited the Oklahoma City Cowboy Museum and a woman working in the gift shop asked us about our connection as we were shopping. When we told her that we were sisters and brother traveling across the country together, she laughed and said "Wow! I wouldn't cross the street with my brother." We all laughed but actually, I thought this was a pretty sad statement.

Today is Leap day meaning we have been gifted with an extra day with extra moments filled with opportunities. Take one of those moments today to do something extra for yourself. Whether you spend some extra time playing with your children, extra time hugging someone you love, or spend an extra moment calling your own brother or sister to say "hello"', it will be time well spent.

We have had a wonderful trip together and it has certainly rivaled the best of 1968, as I had predicted. Our faces have changed over the years (will post updated photo soon) but our love remains. I wish you the best of your extra moments today!

Show Me The Way To Go Home

After a great visit with our parents, we are back on the road and making our way home. In many ways, it feels like we are leaving one home for another. Home is not a building and it is not an address. Home is the place where your "people" are and the place where you are completely at ease. For the last few days, home for us has been at a retirement community in the far South of Texas.

We have tasted the life of 80 year olds, and though we are much younger, we found ourselves not quite up to the task. In my mind, I had always envisioned their retirement life as quiet and unhurried however it is quite the opposite. They have built themselves a new home and a life that is full of good friends and activities that keep them busy from morning till night. A typical day might include woodworking group, cards tournaments, swimming, sight seeing, shuffleboard tournaments, Dairy Queen bingo, ice cream socials, and some kind of party or social event every evening. If anything, my sisters, brother and I need to go home to relax after trying to keep up with their lifestyle. For us, we can now picture their Texas winter home and their life there - and this will help us to feel that much closer when we are once again back in our Minnesota home, and talk with them about their days.

Now it is time for us to allow them a return to their routine as we return home. We joked with them that it would be so blessedly quiet for them after our noisy visit and that they would need days to recover. The reality is that they were sorry to see us go and we were equally sorry to be leaving. But we cannot linger as we have many miles of our own to travel on a road bringing us back to the rest of our family and back to the routine of the lives that we have each built. We are tired from our visit but it is the best kind of tired leaving us feeling satisfied and our hearts full.

When we were little, our dad would often sing when we took a long road trip. One of his favorite songs is one that I have playing in my mind over and over as we drive leaving one home behind and getting closer to the home we left behind...

"Show me the way to go home.
I'm tired and I want to go to bed.
I had a little drink about an hour ago
And it went right to my head.
No matter where I roam,
Over land or sea or foam.
You will always hear me singing this song,
Show me the way to go home."

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for teaching us what home is and for always sharing your home with us. We love you.

A Dance With A Handsome Man Whom I Love

Tonight, I had the chance to dance with a handsome man whom I love very much. He is tall, and strong, proud, and kind. I have loved him for as long as I can remember and he has loved me since before I was born. Tonight, I had the chance to dance with my dad and it was the special moment of my day.


Although he would likely never consider himself to be, my dad is a very smooth dancer. One of my favorite memories from being a child is dancing with my dad. We would put a polka album on the stereo and he would teach me to polka dance while mom made dinner. He would swing me around the living room, counting 1-2-3, and my feet would never touch the ground.  With him as my dance partner, I would feel graceful, beautiful and confident.


Tonight, I felt that way again as I enjoyed our dance together. My sisters have also had the opportunity to dance with dad, my brother has danced with my mom, and my parents have danced together. We've been dancing, visiting, sight seeing, relaxing, and laughing until tears stream from our eyes and our stomach muscles scream for mercy. 


Before our dinner tonight at the "Wrinkle Ranch" party, the minister shared a prayer giving thanks for the blessing of being together. I am blessed to have this family that I can laugh with and dance with...very blessed.

Whales in Texas?

We've been traveling pretty loose this week - taking the road as it comes, stopping when we feel like it and continuing to move when we choose. After spending the day in San Antonio along the river walk and at the Alamo, we decided to journey on just a bit further outside the city before settling in for the night. We drove for a distance and when we started to feel like stopping, we pulled out the trusty travel guide and the iPad and began searching for a hotel nearby. We began to get concerned when we realized that there were not only no hotels for quite some distance, but there were actually no towns either. We expanded our search a bit further and were able to find hotels but something seemed to be wrong as it appeared none were available for tonight. So I pulled out the phone and called one that seemed to be a possibility...

Me: I am wondering if you have any rooms available tonight?
Hotel: No ma'am (they all call me ma'am here), we are completely sold out.
Me: Could you tell me if something is going on in the area that all the hotels are full?
Hotel: It is because of the whales.
Me: Whales?
Hotel: Yes ma'am
Me: Whales in Texas?
Hotel: Yes ma'am, it is the oil whales (translation: wells) and we are full with whale (well) workers

So we have now realized that literally every hotel within 60 miles is completely sold out due to oil workers in the area - including the "Kuntry Inn" which we would have only considered under such serious circumstances. We are now taking a little side trip to Corpus Cristi which seems to be the only town within reasonable driving range that can put us up for the night. Though out of our way, the good news is that we will wake up at our hotel along the beach, and be able to enjoy a walk in the sand before we get back in the truck and complete our journey to McAllen, and to mom and dad.

You never know what to expect when taking a road trip - sometimes it might even be whales in Texas.

One Moment Can Make All The Difference

Today we visited the Oklahoma City Memorial. I hadn't known what to expect and I think sometimes approaching a situation with no pre-conceived ideas allows for the truest experience. If you ever have opportunity to visit the memorial, I highly recommend that you make the time to visit. The memorial grounds are beautiful and the museum is educational, emotional, and inspirational. For me, I was most affected by how significantly a life can change in just a moment, and by how the very small decisions we make every day of our lives, can have such dramatic impact.


Survivors of the bombing shared many such stories about these little decisions and small moments. A woman who was leading a team meeting that morning told how suddenly the floor in front of her and all the people in front of her, just simply disappeared. She was left standing behind her desk with absolutely nothing in front of her. Because of where she stood that morning, she survived. The state trooper who shared how he decided in one moment to make a traffic stop for a license plate violation, and in that moment, actually arrested Timothy McVeigh just minutes after the explosion. Each of these people and each of us make a million tiny decisions in our lifetimes that lead us from moment to moment, and lead us to where we are in this moment.


One of the memorial plaques read:
"Any change in normal routine - a meeting away from the office, a doctors appointment,or traffic delay - determine whether a person lives or dies. Everyday occurrences, like a trip to the copy machine or a stop in the snack bar, impact the seriousness of a person's injuries. Then, and many years later, many survivors will struggle with the questions "what if" and "why".


One moment can make all the difference. There is no right or wrong in these moments, they just are. Make your moments count today.

"It's dark and we're wearing sunglasses. Hit it."

Every road trip needs to have its own playlist and our trip South is no exception. Here is our playlist:
     106 miles to Chicago -The Blues Brothers
     Life in the fast lane -The Eagles
     My Minnesota home - Prairie Home Companion
     Running on empty -Jackson Browne
     Iowa -Dar Williams
     Kansas city - Wanda Jackson
     King of the road -Dean Martin
     Oklahoma Nights - Jimmy Webb
     On the road again -Willie Nelson
     Tulsa county -Son Volt
     He rode all the way to Texas -Dolly Parton
     The long and winding road -Ray Charles
     Hit the road Jack - Ray Charles
     Luckenbach Texas -Waylon Jennings
     500 miles -Roseanne Cash
     San Antonio rose -Patsy Cline
     Take it easy - The Eagles
     I've been everywhere -Johnny Cash
     Show me the way to go home -Emerson Lake Palmer
     One for my baby -Bette Midler


Great music that will carry us all the way from Minnesota to Texas. You may notice; however, that the first selection is not a song at all. Instead it is a clip from the "Blues Brothers" movie...


"It's 106 miles to Chicago. We have a full tank of gas, a half pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses. Hit it."


A classic quote from a classic movie about a classic road trip. Every road trip needs a soundtrack and every road trip also has potential for the best conversations. Picture the Blues Brothers driving through the shopping mall and conversing all along about the sales in each store. Remember Pulp Fiction, and the classic conversation between John Travolta and Samuel Jackson about movie theaters and McDonalds in Europe. These conversations are about nothing at all but at the same time, can sometimes be the most interesting.


I read once that if you really wanted to talk with a teenager about something uncomfortable, the best place to talk is in a car. First of all, they are a captive audience but more importantly, there is something about the fact that you aren't looking face to face and have the distractions of the world going by that makes conversation flow and can make difficult conversations a bit less intimidating.


As we traveled more than 10 hours today, we had the opportunity for lots of conversation - about topics big and small, matters of importance and things that don't matter at all. We have had a moments of laughter, and moments of quiet - the kind that is never awkward and you can only enjoy with those you know well and love much.


The first day of our journey will soon be over. We have gone through 3 tanks of gas, no cigarettes, it's been sunny and we've had torential rain (but we wore our sunglasses). So we continue on, hit it...


Side note: In the final hours of our planning and preparation yesterday, our sister Deb had to make a very difficult decision. She recently welcomed a new grandson who was born more than 6 weeks early. He is 3 pounds of cuteness. He has been doing so good but suffered a bit of a setback on Sunday and Deb knew that she needed to stay home until he is better. We got good news today and are hoping that he will be much better very soon because then Deb will actually fly down to meet us in Texas. I think we will drive in and she will already be at the pool with a glass of wine in her hand. But until then, please keep baby Traigh (and all his family) in your thoughts and prayers. We miss you,Deb and will see you in Texas!

Tomorrow, We Ride...

This photo was taken the summer of 1968 on a family vacation. I am the youngest, my sister Sue is behind me and my sister Deb is beside me, and our brother Steven is peeking from behind. My oldest brother, Mike, was also along on this trip but my youngest brother, Greg, was not yet born.  This is the last photo I can find of this particular group traveling together. I'm certain that there were more trips because each summer we took a family vacation, but as my sisters and brothers got older, their summer jobs quite often prevented them from joining the family vacation and they stayed home while we traveled. (A privilege denied me by the way, due to my somewhat wilder lifestyle and my parent's good judgement!)  But now more than 30 years later, we are planning to hit the road together once again for a family vacation.


Each winter, my parents leave the snow and cold behind, and travel to McAllen, Texas where they soak up the sunshine all winter long. I've never had opportunity to visit them so when they confirmed this year that they were going to Texas again, my sisters and I quickly volunteered to come for a visit. We coaxed my brothers to join us and Steven will be along for the fun. My oldest brother and youngest brother both have commitments at home so they will "hold the fort" as my dad always says.


We load up tomorrow morning in Deb's minivan and begin the long drive south. Along the way, we plan to stop at the Oklahoma City Memorial, spend a day at San Antonio River Walk, and enjoy whatever else catches our eye on the way. We'll spend a few days with my parents and then once again, journey home. I've been looking forward to this trip ever since we first began talking about the possibility. My brothers and sisters are my best friends, and the opportunity to spend this time with some of them, as we travel to visit our parents is the best vacation I can imagine. 


I've packed my bags (way too many, way too much), we've planned our route, and we've made arrangements for our absence from the day to day of our lives.  We have no idea what this road trip will bring our way and the adventure is in the unknown. We'll take each moment and every mile as it comes - enjoying the ride along the way.  And we will return in a week with the memories of a family vacation that may even rival the best of 1968.


Today we pack. Today we plan. Today we anticipate.  But tomorrow....we ride...