Day 354

I can certainly see why no one commented on my last blog. It was rather pitiful, as Bridget Jones might say. Anyway I have recovered from losing my great writing about dropping Erica off at the airport. It was sort of a pity party anyway.

Day 365 in the year without Erica
In a nutshell, we left early enough for the airport and Erica had to stop and puke on the way. It was a combination of a gourmet egg sandwich made by Mike, lots of alcohol a few hours before, nerves and motion sickness. Once we got there all was well until Kevin, Erica's 16 year old brother, realized that her flight didn't leave for 2 hours and that we are waiting with her. He definitely wasn't awake enough that morning to ask enough questions and is quite concerned about what he has signed up for. He begins his pouting, phone calls, and text messages. Evidently he has some life-altering plans that are now going to be screwed up because he is an hour or 2 later. At one point gma called and asked nicely "do I need to come to the airport to pick up Kevin?". A little irritating, ya think? Basically I ignored him because I realize that at his age and where he is he can't think beyond himself.

When we left Erica of course I started bawling. A whole year! A whole freakin' year! I can't believe it could be that long. But a mom does have to realize that kids become adults- you can't hang on to them forever. Lots of mom's go a year- by choice. She isn't dying or going to Iraq or even the Peace Corp. Rick did touch my shoulder and hugged me for a minute. Later Mike put his hand on my back too, which was so sweet because I didn't coach him like I did Rick :) As I walked into the parking lot I was about 20 feet behind the guys who were probably very uncomfortable with my tears. I felt alone but wasn't sure what I really needed- maybe to be alone, and maybe the guys with all their perceptiveness realized that. I don't know. Life isn't always easy, I do know that.

Day 364
Then the next morning, Saturday, my mom want to go to Columbia for the family reunion which was on Sunday. We shopped around and went to dinner in Columbia. We rented "The Weatherman" which we both thought was very good.

Day 363
Charlie and Andy were so glad mom was at the reunion. She is like a matriarch for the Stidham family reunion- so many of the older people are in nursing homes or have died. What is very strange is what happened just prior to going to the reunion in Centralia. I asked her if she would like to go by our old house because we had extra time. We drove down Highland Dr. slowly and a fast car was approaching behind me. I pulled over because I didn't want to have to speed up. As we slowly proceeded down my old street the car that I allowed to pass pulled into my old driveway. Diane, the gal that bought the house from mom got out of the car and I stopped at the end of the driveway. I yelled "hi Diane" because I went to school with her and reintroduced myself. She eventually asked if we would like to come in because she was getting ready to give her sister a tour because she got new floors. Mom said "oh, no" just as I said "YES!". We got to go through the house and she even let me take pics. She fixed it up so cute. Such great, poignant memories there. I remembered sitting on the sink in the bathroom putting make-up on. My dad was everywhere. Today, 2 weeks later, my mom told me how much she enjoyed seeing the house. Let me know how to post pics and I will. It was great. Do you think running into Diane like that, having her house ready for a tour was a little TOO COINCIDENTAL? I tell you I pay attention to stuff like that because it meant that we were meant to be there at that exact moment. I don't know why- but I know God intended it.