The Journey Home

Well, I have finally returned home after spending the summer visiting my parents in SC. It feels a little strange to be home again after several months. Many things have changed here. When I left I was sharing a 4 bedroom house with my brother, one of my sisters (the other one lives in Kalamazoo) and my sister's 3 kids (baby boy less than a year, daughter 3, Son 13) and my brother's children(2 girls 7 and 8) visit him several times each week. In the beginning, my daughter (18) had moved out with her boyfriend and since they broke up recently my daughter (Molly) has come back home to live, with her puppy dog (Loki). Upon my arrival home I was told that my sister and her 3 kids had gotten an apartment in a nearby town and were moving out within the week. So now it will just be me and my brother, and my daughter, and my brother's girls when they are here to visit him.

Right now I am alone at home, my sister and her kids are gone to her friends house, my daughter is out at a friends house, and my brother is at work. After being at my parents with their 5 dogs, and 2 cats, add in my 2 dogs and 1 cat, and my mother working from home (She makes soap), it seems oddly quiet around here. I am sure that as I get settled in I will develop a new routine and will become accustomed to being alone again. We'll see.

Every time I call my parents they ask me if I am ready to come home yet. Funny, I have only been away from their house for 3 days, counting my driving day.

I am still tired from the long drive, and my dogs are off of their schedule and a little out of sorts. I am always very tense when I drive to and from SC. I really, really, really hate driving through the mountains in the Virginias. I have to force myself to stare only at the road ahead because if I even glance to the side and see the tops of trees below, my stomach does a flip. Suffice it to say, my fingers are sore and stiff from the death grip I had on the steering wheel most of the way here.

Here are some pics of my jeep as it was packed for the trip home. ( I came back with much much more than I left with).Once I was able to shut the back door, I wedged some small loose items in the gaps....including a small crate of peaches wrapped in a plastic bag to keep the peaches from falling all over. I am going to make some more pies with them this week.


I left a portion free in the back behind the front passenger seat for my dog Isabella. That is where I put my pillows and blankets, so she had a comfy ride.

Here is Isabella.......isn't she precious?
Where you see the pink blanket in the front is where I had to put one of my duffel bags of clothes. The other one is on the floor in front of the front passenger seat. I covered them with a pink blanket and that is where my dog Princess stayed during the trip.

Here is my little dog Princess.....and my fat cat Omi (Oh-Me) who rotated between sitting with Isabella and sitting with Princess. I was really surprised at how well they did together in the car, especially Isabella. Isabella is only 8 months old and had never really been anywhere except her backyard. I actually had to pick her up and put her in the car that first time. But now, after a 16 hour trip of stopping to go potty and get gas or food, she is a pro at jumping in and out of the car.