Road Trip

We have just returned from a marvelous long weekend with our oldest daughter and her family to her in-law's year round retreat. We've made this trip several times now, but it was the first time in two years that we'd been in the car with Walker and our oldest grandson for such an extended drive.

The last time we took Walker and Robert on a trip, only to St. Louis, it was like having two ten year olds in the car. There was a lot of "he touched me" and sneaky jabs and tattling from both of them. Sharing a room was not easy. Walker declined to go up in the arch; Robert couldn't wait to go. At the zoo, Robert was all about photographing every exhibit. Walker was all about mimicing the apes. Robert recorded that antic too. About the only thing they agreed on was that the "Throwed Rolls" at a cavernous country eating place in Arkansas were awesome.

This trip was more like four adults travelling together. Robert and Walker listened to a murder mystery tape along with us. Travelling with us gave Robert a chance to visit his eighty-nine year old great-grandfather. We all enjoyed a lunch with Grandaddy and his second wife, this time in an Alabama country cooking joint, breaking the long trip into tolerable segments

When Walker's younger sister got married a few years, it began to dawn on him that she was beginning an adult life and he was not. He recently announced that he was married to his job, a quote from a movie, I'm sure. I wonder how he's going to feel in a few years when he realizes the nephew he remembers as an infant has also outgrown him and left home and started a family.

I hope we will be able to ease the next transitional crisis for Walker. I hope he'll continue to think that being married to his job is a cool thing to be. I hope our wonderful in-laws will provide us a pleasant retreat in the cool mountains again in years to come and that we'll soon enjoy another road trip.

Blessings,
Janie