Girls' Day Out

I went Up North to visit my mom today. It still sounds so weird just to say Mom instead of "Mom and Dad." Although I'd seen her at my nephew's wedding and have talked to her on the phone quite often, I hadn't made my way up to Luck since the funeral.

Today, since hubby had to get Carter to cross country practice and time trials, I went alone. That ended being OK. It sort of turned it into a Girls' Day Out. And by GIRLS, I mean Mom and sisters Romey, Renell, RoAnn and Rachel.

We met at Romey's by Grantsburg and went to T-Dawg's for a late lunch. Here's Mom and me waiting for our food. She's looking pretty good and doing OK. Since it was "her" day, too, we all -- against our will, I'm sure -- went to a garage sale after lunch.

Well, it just happened that our cousins were having a moving sale just a few miles down the road so we had a mini-reunion there. And I think we all followed Mom's example and bought something. Against our will, right? Because this younger, smarter generation would never buy things we didn't need, would we?

After thrifting, it was back to Romey's for dessert, of course.

We decided to have carrot cake and ice cream in honor of our oldest sister's birthday this week. I had my brother-in-law Rick take a picture of us (should have showed him how to focus, whoops) so we could share it with Rayna. I know she was having a delightful day in Texas, but she might have been a teensy bit jealous. We sure had a yummy time celebrating for her!

Time flew and it was really late afternoon before the spontaneous party broke up. I was planning to drive back home tonight so when we got back to Mom's, I pretty much headed out.

I stopped at the cemetery to have a little heart to heart with Dad. Silly of me not to have Kleenex with me. Thankfully large leaves can double as tissues. We had a good talk.

I really miss him!

It was after 6:30 when I hit the road. It ended up taking me 4 hours to get home, despite the fact I had just bragged that it only takes 3 1/2 now with a new 4-lane road. Well that's if you don't stop for potty & a Red Bull, a "one hour to go, this will help me stay awake" ice cream cone and gas.

As you can see, I definitely had enough ice cream to get me back to Rapids. However, I did not have enough gas. Well, close enough. The gas light went on and I just prayed a lot during those last 15 miles.

I really didn't worry about it, actually. I had asked Dad to watch over me on my trip so I knew I'd make it home fine. He's probably shaking his head why I didn't get gas when I was getting my caffeine and cold treat. Not to mention the fact I would need ANYTHING after that sugar-laden carrot cake and frosting.

Whoops. Good thing he loves me.