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" />" width="500" height="214" alt="ccb" />" />I truly appreciate all of your sweet comments during our travels and I regret not being able to respond to each one of them. I’ve been out of the loop lately. I guess it’s understandable that I’ve been hanging out a lot with my husband and the rest of the family. And since my mother-in-law believes that the devil dwells in the world wide web, I’ve also been out of the loop of an internet provider. Every now and then, you can find me standing out on the hill in my mother-in-law’s backyard, laptop in hand, feeding off the unsecured signals of the neighbors. There is only one neighbor who isn’t stingy with their signal and it comes and goes, but mostly, it goes. Also, the battery in my laptop is good for, oh, I’d say, ‘bout 3 ½ minutes tops, so about the time the sun starts to wear the fabric on my back thin, it’s time to give it up.
Also, I haven’t felt real compelled to take many photos lately. I’ve always believed that when memory capturing starts to interfere with memory making, it’s time to lay the camera down, so I’ve been trying to enjoy the moments as they happen. Also, our memories have mostly been happening down by the river, and Canon’s and inner tubes just don’t mix.
In order to get us up to speed, I would like to share, more on our trip to and from Virginia.
THE FLIGHTS
Despite nearly throwing up from over activity while running to catch the flight that left without us after our first flight was delayed, and almost wetting her pants while waiting to be rerouted because of missing the aforementioned plane, Charley was a good traveler. She loved her little surprises and spent hours being entertained by them. In fact, she enjoyed her little prizes so much, that we didn’t find time to open all of them. No problem. We have many more miles ahead.
Because our plane landed about the time Chuck was hallucinating from lack of sleep, Charley and I hailed a van-taxi to meet him at the storage unit in Newport News. When we arrived it was about 1:00 a.m. and we found Chuck working on his 7th or so wind, empting the uhaul into the narrow storage facility we had reserved earlier in the month.
The reunion was happy and sweet. I cannot express how relieved and content Charley and I both were to see his sweet, burly face. Oh, how we love him.
BACK TO BAMA
On the way home from Virginia, we had a little car trouble. We’d been hearing this non-engine related grinding/vibrating thing for a while. It came and went with no rhyme or reason. When Chuck felt compelled to slow it down to below 50 on the interstate in fear that the wheel might actually snap off, we agreed that it was time to seek professional help. Only it was Sunday, so we checked into a hotel instead.
We couldn’t have broken down at a more convenient spot. Actually, breaking down in my Dad’s driveway would have been better, but life isn’t always easy. In fact, I’ve recently discovered that sometimes it’s hard to see the road for the rain, and I mean that both literally and figuratively. I mean, life is stressful. It seems the older I get, the more things I find fit to worry about. But I won’t complain about my life today. I have SO much to be thankful for.
When we exited the interstate, we found a clean, one story, ranch style, 1960’s motel with an incredible view. We made the most of our detour and took advantage of the pool with the same amazing view. Later, after waiting on a hard rain to pass through, we walked down to the little restaurant at the bottom of the hill and enjoyed a meal surrounded by friendly looking strangers. I regret not taking photographs of the quaint little place.
I pulled the image below from their website.
The following morning, we traveled about 6 miles to the nearest mechanic, and 3 ½ hours and $558.00 credit card dollars later, we were on the road again. Something about a hub. Ugggg. Those credit card dollars are going to hurt for a while, but I tell ya, that truck has chugged along fine for many, many miles and I am thankful for it.
HOME
Reuniting has been fun to watch.
He’s home with us and that is good. In some ways it’s like he never left.
He looks the same (though a little more muscular).
But the newness of having him here, definitely hasn’t worn through yet. In fact, just yesterday, Charley stopped me as I was walking by to say, “Can you believe Daddy is really here, with us?”
Chuck seems to have adapted to the heat and the man’s got more energy than I can understand. He goes and goes and goes. Never sitting still is partly due to his need to explore and relive everything on his home turf. The other part, is probably on account of being in the land of limbo but, there’ll be plenty of time for settling, when we’ve got a place of our own to settle into.
Speaking of which, our Virginia house hunt went well. After viewing a series of dilapidated farm houses containing a couple of bathtubs that Charley declared that she would “NEVER take a bath in”, we found a few hopefuls. And since I don’t consider the deal done until we’re reaching across that oval table and pulling back a couple of keys, I won’t get into any details now. I’m excited and hopeful that Virginia will suit us just fine and I am praying we will have some house news to share soon.
Thanks for stopping by! Love ya’ll!
Hayley, thanks for your update - I've been wondering how things are going for you and your family. It sure is great to read about true love! I wish only the best for you three! Take care now!
ReplyDeleteConnie in DE for the summer
Hayley, I absolutely love your blog! You are such a precious young lady, sweet loving wife and a really AWESOME mother! I wish you all the best in Virginia!
ReplyDeleteSo glad all is well and you let us know how things are going!! I have missed your daily blogging and photos, but you deserve your family time, but hurry up with it...lol :)
ReplyDeleteOkay - I'm so excited for you!!!! I can't wait to read of your next adventure (with Chuck in tow!)... but minus cc dollars. ;-D
ReplyDeleteHave fun - enjoy!!!
robelyn
This is a great post. You said it all so well. It is great for you all to be together as a family. I really do want to comment on the part about the devil living in the www. LOL! What can I say??? Oh well!
ReplyDeleteBlessings in your new adventure.
So glad you all are reunited. This makes my heart smile.
ReplyDeleteWhy y'all all gotta be so photogenic? Huh?
ReplyDelete