A few lines a day…

It seems the FaceBook way this year is to recap one’s year in an automatic collage of status messages. ‘Twould be a strange reflection upon my year, with the frequency I’m on FaceBook. However, it did seem an appropriate way to sum up the last three eventful weeks in our life. So here I present to you our last three weeks in a collection of my status messages–some I actually posted, some I only wrote in my mind…

• 12/14 Sharing a peppermint mocha from Starbucks with my hubby. Perfect way to start off the road trip to my parents’.
• 12/14 I am SO going to cry at my brother’s wedding.
• 12/15 Today I got to hold the miracle baby, Davis Blaine…my little cousin once removed!
• 12/16 “Up.” “I’m flying.” “Down.” “Side.” Ruth’s repertoire of words is going to increase greatly on this trip, I can already tell!
• 12/17 It’s so fun to see my brother so very in love.
• 12/18 Shoes bought (Monday). Flight arrived safely (Wednesday). Bridesmaid dress hemmed (Tuesday-Thursday). Rehearsal (tonight). Snow in the forecast (this weekend). All ready for my brother’s wedding.
• 12/19 at 6:35am Today the Glaser-Harris wedding party will be singing a snow-themed version of “Just Get Me to the Church on Time.” Please pray for safety for all and a happy wedding for Will & Natalie.
• 12/19 at 8:48am My girls are getting their beauty rest here in the hotel room. I’m ready to don dress and shoes. The wedding is taking place right here at the hotel because of the snowy road conditions between here and “The Old Stone Schoolhouse” where we were going to be. Praying for that special girl who is going to be my sister-in-law…and thankful my bro chose an unflappable, poised young lady!
• 12/19 at 8:48am We had record rainfall on our wedding day. Now Will and Natalie’s wedding day is graced by a snowstorm unusual for Virginia. At least we’ll have something to remember the day by!
• 12/19 at 8:38am NEWSFLASH for those attending the Glaser-Harris wedding. Due to inclement weather, the wedding will take place at the Comfort Suites in Leesburg. Call the father of the groom for the latest if you’re planning on venturing out for the wedding.
• 12/19 at 9:04am LATEST: Wedding at The Old Stone School House!!!!!!! Changed back to original location!! William Glaser and Natalie Harris will get married at the Old Stone School House as originally planned! Thanks to 4-wheel-drive pickups…
• 12/19 at 4:52pm Congratulations, William Glaser and Natalie Harris…now Mr. and Mrs. William Glaser! They’re hitched, folks…and off for a very, very snowy honeymoon!
• 12/19 Aunt Marcy is amazing. She spent several hours on the phone with Southwest rescheduling all 19 canceled flights. Part of us get to fly out Tuesday, the rest Wednesday. But hey, it’s better than Christmas Eve like they were telling her at first!
• 12/20 Every time I hear about people stuck somewhere in an airport over the holidays, I feel so sorry for them and am glad it’s not me. Well, now it’s me. Except, we’re not stuck in an airport. We didn’t get that far. We’re at the hotel. And have several more days until our rescheduled flights.
• 12/20 They appear to have a plethora of snow plows in Virginia, but no clue how to use them. We crossed the state line into Baltimore, and voila, a perfect snowplow job: clear roads with mounds of snow on the shoulder!
• 12/21 We moved to a cheaper motel. I’m majorly missing the instant cappuccino machine from the last one. And Merritt is thinking he won’t be spending any more time hanging out in the pool with Ru: this pool is solid ice! We’ll refrain from comment on the comfort of the beds, double beds at that. We’re missing our bed at home. But hey, just think of all the money we’re saving…
• 12/22 Natalie has a precious family. Spent most of the day with Jon and Lisa and their girls. Ruth and Sonora had some lessons in sharing. The twins and Mary had some lessons in not eating your friends.
• 12/22 Lisa makes a fabulous lasagna (I hear it’s a family tradition). And I’m still trying to exactly recreate the ratio of olive oil and balsamic vinegrette dressing she served over the greens, feta cheese, and pomegranites!
• 12/23 More winter storms predicted for the Midwest, especially Chicago. We’re so glad there was the option for flying home a day earlier from Baltimore. That flight routed us via Phoenix, instead of the original Dulles to Chicago Midway…or else we probably would be spending Christmas in the airport!
• 12/24 We made it home for Christmas! We got to my parents’ about 6pm Wednesday. And after being up for 19 hours, we all went straight to bed, which helped us get a bit more back onto west coast time. We’d been going to bed on west coast time (thanks to little people), and getting up on east coast time! Anyway, we are so very thankful for the safe travels…and so very thankful to be back on the west coast!
• 12/25 It’s a cloudy Christmas with no snow…but we’re together…and we’re at my childhood home instead of at an airport or motel somewhere! Wishing y’all a day filled with precious memory-making times and much praise to the King of kings.
• 12/28 A new hair cut (thanks to my mom and her hairdresser). A gingerbread mocha at Starbucks. A new pair of pants and several new shirts at GoodWill (thank you, grandparents, for the Christmas money that let me splurge a little). A morning on the town with my youngest daughter and my mom (on her birthday–Happy Birthday, Mom!). A lovely day indeed.
• 12/30 We’re off through the snow and sleet…on our way home at last…and with a sick little Ru. It was too good to last, all of us staying healthy for so long!
• 12/30 Our drive home took four hours longer than it could/should, due to all the snow and ice on the roads. We are so thankful for the safety God gave us…!
• 12/30 Ending our trip the same way it began: with a peppermint mocha from the same Starbucks we stopped at on the way to my parents’. (You know it’s been a long day when my hubby needs two Starbucks stops to get through the drive!)
• 12/31 Ru sounds like she could sing bass. She’s started talking in sentences. Her voice would be comical if that cough didn’t sound so croupy.
• 12/31 Home at last… Happy New Year, everyone!
• 12/31 So much for the new tradition of going to bed early. It’s 10pm and the girls are both still awake.
• 1/1 It’s so good to be home. Even if I did see every hour on the clock last night.
• 1/2 The amount of time it takes to recover from a trip is directly related to the amount of time you were gone, the amount of miles you traveled, and the amount of people you packed for. But I finally got the last bag unpacked today. As to the laundry? It’s truly never ending.
• 1/4 First halfway decent night of sleep we’ve had since we got back. Ru’s cough sounds much better. And Mary, though drooling like crazy, is doing a bit better about her nap schedule. Perhaps something near normal has returned? At least as close as we ever get to normal around here…