No Longer An Option

Happy Memorial Day to everyone! Obviously, I made it back safely to Baltimore, but it was not without mishap. Friday, as I was traveling north on Interstate 77, there was a terrible accident that caused traffic to be detoured off of the interstate through Elkin, NC. Never heard of Elkin, NC? Neither had I, but after TWO hours of meandering through the countryside in this lovely farmland community, I have now. To help pass the time, I took some pictures out of both car windows and actually got some pretty good shots.











This is corn just beginning to come up.



Are you beginning to wonder about my mental state that would cause me to actually think about taking pictures? Well, this is what the road looked like the entire time until we got back on the interstate and we were stopped more than we moved. Add to that an increasing need to go to the bathroom and it was the only socially acceptable solution I could come up with.



If you've ever questioned if God has a sense of humor, you no longer have to. This sign next to a church I passed was my answer for pretty much anything I could come up with to whine about as the minutes ticked by.



Later in the day, I stopped at a rest area to stretch my complaining back. As I bent over, this was the first thing I saw. I took it as another sign and while it wilted quickly once picked, I did have an uneventful drive the rest of way home.



When I finally arrived, I was greeted not only by Hamp and Kit, but also by Michael and his friend, Connor. Yes, he did just land in Boston on Thursday afternoon. But he's taking Hebrew this summer and this window of time was all he had to show Connor the south and we're a good stopping point between Boston and Atlanta. So Saturday we enjoyed showing Connor around some and we all had our first water taxi ride. This will be my preferred choice of travel for the summer if I need to get to the Inner Harbor area as long as I'm not in a hurry.



And now, here I am...back in Baltimore for three weeks before leaving for Boston to help Tiffany get ready to move to Orlando. I have lots to do to catch up from being gone and also need to let my soul take a breath as the realization hits again that I'm actually living here now.

As I was sitting in traffic on Friday, one of my favorite illustrations by Mary Engelbreit kept coming to mind and I decided to share it with you. It's not only appropriate for the driving adventure I experienced, but also for life more often than I'd like sometimes.



To close for today, I want to thank publicly all of the men and women who have served in the military to keep our country free to this point. My nephew, Joey, is one of them and on behalf of Americans everywhere, thank you.