October 15th, 2005

long drive… long, long, long drive

Somehow, due to rain, traffic, road construction and stopping for lunch and to shop a little (Dad needed some new shirts… :P), a 450 mile trip managed to take almost 12 hours.

Synopsis of the trip:
Dad wants to invest in robots… I got a two hour lecture on robots.
Dad wants to know about websites… I gave a two hour lecture on websites.
Dad has a patient in the hospital back home who has multiple problems… Dad was on the cell phone for probably three hours altogether explaining this to: the patient, her husband, the nurses and two other doctors.

My parents live an incredibly stressfull life, and they can never seem to get away from it. I think that’s one of the reasons I shy away from stress and conflict… partially because I have a very empathetic soul, which I try desperately to control, and partly because that stress colored my childhood.

I grew up fast.

Anyway, we’re staying with the most fabulous older woman. She’s in her late 70s and spry as all get out. Her husband was quite well off, so she lives in this big house in this tiny little town where my mom grew up. And she’s a riot. My mom and I have stayed with her before and she’s just so much fun and sweet and I want to be her when I get old.

We were running late (five hours), so we called her, just to see if we needed to stay outside of town and not arrive at 1230AM. She said, “Of course not! I’m wide awake.”

And she was. And the first thing she said when we walked in? “Hi you guys. Did you have a nice trip? Who drove?”

We all pointed at me.

“Honey, do you still drink straight vodka? I bought a bottle just for you. Let me go pour you a drink.”

I love this woman.

My dad is upstairs now, on the phone with the patient again, and my mom, E and I are, to quote them, “shooting the shit.”

Tomorrow, the festival begins with a tractor pull and a parade… then there’s going to be apple butter, cider, pie, etc. being made and pigs being greased.

Ah, small town life. 😛