It was, indeed, a quick trip. A delivery, really. Like FedEx, or Big Brown. After Thanksgiving, I looked at the month of December to discover that I had very limited opportunity to drive the three stained glass panels to El Cajon before Christmas as I so casually had assumed I would. Mostly, but not exclusively, because of music scheduling*, I needed to make it a 3-day hit 'n' run. So, I concocted a plan: drive to Dad 'n' Jean's in North County Friday, deliver the panels to El Cajon Saturday morning, visit the Tuckers Saturday afternoon, and finish the day back at Dad's, after which I'd drive home again on Sunday.
And that's what I did.
I left a bit after 7 at around 30 degrees. First stop--at the end of our street our neighbor wanted to see the panels before I left, so I unpacked them, delivered their concert tickets, repacked the panels, and was on my way again about 7:25. Something happens to me that I can't explain when I'm on the road by myself. I hate to stop for anything. It becomes a "thing". When I travel with Tom, I like to make stops here and there for whatever--it's fun!--but Friday, I packed my tea, water and dry roasted edamame to get me to San Marcos, 550 miles away. I had forgotten to eat breakfast, though, so, fortunately, it was the Costco sized edamame. Cutting to the chase, even with some expected traffic through LA, I pulled into Dad and Jean's driveway, nine hours later, just short of 4:30 pm having stopped only twice (for gas and bathroom breaks).
Of course, as soon as one gets off the 78 freeway, one can follow one's nose to Jean's kitchen. Especially if one has had only edamame to eat all day. Dad and Jean had planned to come up for a visit near his birthday last month, but had to call the trip off when Dad strained his back. It's still giving him trouble, so I was glad to be able to get down for even a short time before Christmas. They had invited their good friend, Don, for dinner and we had a fun and fabulous meal together.
Jean, then, presented me with our Christmas present, which, among other things, like the monster-sized bag of M&M Peanuts (a big fave!), was a gorgeous afghan that she crocheted for us in bright reds! So beautifully done and a wonderful addition to our winter warmth supply kit!Next morning, I hopped the 60 miles, or so, down to Izzy's in El Cajon, where I had a great brunchtime with Karen, Fran and Lydia. Really fun (as you can plainly see)! After that, we all met back at the church to hang the glass panels. Fortunately, they liked them. I'll post pictures of them tomorrow. But, for the moment, there are Karen and Fran near the Prodigal panel. The panels were all installed amidst the beautiful Advent decorations. A little after noon, hugged goodbye. I miss them. I need to make more treks just for visiting.
Next on the agenda was to spend the afternoon with the Tuckers, good friends that I hadn't seen since before we moved. Their two kids, Jasmine and Ashton, are my godchildren. Curt and Cora live with their family near downtown Escondido, only about 20 minutes from Dad's house. (on the way to the Tuckers', by the by, I paid $1.59/gal for gas! What a crazy world!) I loved seeing them and couldn't believe how much the kids had changed.
Jasmine, 15, is beautiful and sophisticated. Ashton, 13, another handsome kid, seemed twice the size as our last visit. He struggles with autism, but seems to have progressed quite a bit, having picked up much more speech and command-following in the last couple of years! Curt and Cora project the calmest, most serene atmosphere and have created such a beautiful, restful home. I miss them, too, but they're all "wired" up, now, so we'll do more e-visiting than we've been able to do, up til now.I spent another delicious dinner and evening chatting with Dad and Jean. This picture is one I took before I left early Sunday morning. That's cute li'l Abby mugging for the camera down there.
So, I was off, again, northbound, this time. I left at the same time as on Friday morning, but, with no traffic, I shaved an hour off of the time. Four quick stops, and the same diet later, I arrived home just before 3:30 pm.
Just in time to go out and buy a Christmas tree and have it set up at home before dark!
*Chorale schedule this week: Evenings of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday plus Sunday afternoon (yipes!)
