Cross Country for the Holidays

As I mentioned in my last blog, I’m currently writing from San Antonio, Texas. It has been anything but a direct route to get here, however. It’s taken nearly 7,000 driving miles and traversing 25 states to New England, then down the East Coast to Florida and across the Gulf States to arrive in this part of Texas. So let me backtrack a little.

We had planned to visit my sister, Lin, and family for our traditional Christmas holiday get-together. It was canceled last year due to… well, you know why. The original plan this year was to celebrate Thanksgiving in Las Vegas and leave in early December for a leisurely drive to Rhode Island. Plans change quickly in our little world. 

First, Lin’s son’s partner was expecting her fourth child in early December and Lin volunteered to babysit her three grandchildren… ages 5, 3, and 22 months. Second, our youngest son, Brad, and family had planned to spend Thanksgiving with us in Las Vegas, but had to cancel at the last minute. Paul and Mary both had other plans with their kids for Thanksgiving which left us on our own. Not a problem, but we were free agents. We offered to head to Lin’s early to help with the child care. She said yes immediately and we left Las Vegas on November 24th and headed east. We’d cooked a turkey with all the trimmings and celebrated Thanksgiving before we left and, of course, took all those great leftovers to eat along the way.

We estimated the ~3,000 mile trip would take us approximately six days, driving an average of 500 miles/day… definitely not our usual tortoise speed. This road trip, compared to our usual leisurely, rambling trips, was nondescript… the miles and states whizzed by in a blur. We mainly stayed on interstates to make our daily mileage goal.

We managed to avoid any major weather en route, but that didn’t preclude having to scrape the windshield a few mornings. Where the heck is the ice scraper? We rarely use one in Las Vegas.

The days were long and, thankfully, we did manage to avoid any major weather en route. We uploaded and listened to NPR podcasts and an amusing, thought-provoking audiobook, Hurricanes, Lizards and Plastic Squid by Thor Hanson, to pass the time. We sang along with our Apple playlist of tunes. We car danced to get some steps in and keep ourselves awake when necessary. We chatted and planned and discussed.  It was, however, a long, long trip.  Nights were spent in an indistinguishable parade of hotel rooms. After the turkey was gone, whatever we could cobble together at Walmart or the nearest grocery store served as dinner. Breakfasts and lunches were eaten at rest stops and turnoffs. 

As it turned out, Soairse (that’s Celtic for ‘freedom’ and pronounced Seer-sha) couldn’t wait for our arrival and made her entrance on November 27th. Lin had the other three grandchildren under control but was glad to see us when we finally we arrived in Pawtucket on December 2nd.

Welcome to Pawtucket, Rhode Island

Home of the Potato Head family… and Lin lives here, too!

Lin was still working from home and having three little ones to care for definitely limited her productivity. Auntie and Uncle were welcomed heartily by our grandnieces, Daphne & Sophie, and grandnephew, Adam. We’d never even met 22-month old, Sophie. It’d been that long since we were all together. 

Lin waited till we arrived so we could help decorate her Christmas Tree.

Lin had the kids for a full week and, though she handled the brunt of the caretaking, we pitched in with diaper changes, school time, games, storytelling, hair brushing, teeth brushing, clothes changes and good night rituals. The kids are well-behaved, polite and delightful, but I’d really forgotten how much work is involved with tiny tot child care and just how tuckered adults could be at the end of each day. Whew!

We managed a visit with Old St. Nick one afternoon. Santa was busy, so we had to wait for a few minutes.

We managed a birthday dinner out to celebrate Lin’s birthday.

The week following was spent visiting cousins and old friends and putting the final touches on Christmas shopping and gift wrapping. By the end of the week, we were off on another road trip… this time to Richmond, Virginia to visit our oldest son Brennan and his wife Hannah in their new digs. More details on that trip in my next blog. Tune in.