Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig

Keith and Juda are married and we are home. The wedding went well, it was held outdoors on a farm where the large oak trees and fenced horse paddocks were beautifully situated as a backdrop for the event. The guests were seated and the music played while we anticipated Juda’s arrival in her exquisite dress and veil. Though the bridal coach was beautiful and she arrived in high style behind a white horse and aboard a rose flanked carriage, I had a hard time taking my eyes off a couple of the guys up front in tuxes. Kris and Owen stood among the groomsmen after making their trek down the aisle and I was very proud of my men. We really didn’t know how Owen would react to the stares and expectant looks from the guests as he walked with his little ring bearer pillow in hand, but he did very well. He stayed focused on his goal and remained at his post for a good while. We gave him the option of going to sit down with Grandma in the front row if he became tired or even bored and he took us up on that before they got to the vows.

We were all packed and ready to go home upon leaving for the wedding which was a little less than an hour North of where we were staying with Kris’ parents. Since we knew we wouldn’t leave the wedding until fairly late we opted to begin our drive toward home and get a hotel room instead of back tracking and beginning our 12 hour drive from square one. The reception was very nice and we enjoyed visiting with cousins we don’t often see. We changed clothes and left after 9:00 if I remember right. We were all exhausted and the boys fell asleep fairly quickly, both already in their pajamas and ready for whatever bed we would find for them. We drove for an hour or so and were in bed in a nice room by 11-ish. We probably could have driven longer but I did not want to get caught up in any of the air issues (explained in the next couple sentences) by driving further north and have to sleep in an area where we couldn’t breathe. After checking the road conditions in the morning we realized we were going to have to take some detours. I-75 was closed from Lake City to Valdosta and the visibility was listed as near zero. There have been some bad fires burning in GA and FL the past several weeks and the smoke has been blowing south into Florida making visibility very poor along Interstate 75 which is our usual passage home. We drove at least two hours out of the way west to avoid the smoke and still had a hard time in some spots. We were forced to get gas before getting back on the interstate in south Georgia and we basically had to just hold our breath as long as we could while outside the van or any buildings. It was pretty nasty. About a half hour to an hour north of Valdosta things cleared up and we were able to enjoy the rest of our trip with clean air. Our trip was not to be too smooth though. The boys required a lot of attention this voyage. Owen had to go to the bathroom a record number of times, the sleep schedule messed up the eating schedule and we were all hungry at different times forcing stops for the kids and pregnant lady when it was least convenient. I believe we made over 10 stops and our trip was lengthened considerably. We were very glad we had decided to begin our trip the night before as it would have been a 14 hour plus driving day had we left from Lakeland. Ivan cried the last hour of the way home making life somewhat intolerable for the rest of us, but we did make it, and we were very happy to see our home again. My only real regret is that I didn’t grab a notebook and write down some of the crazy things that Owen said on the way home. I only remember laughing…but can’t begin to remember why. Maybe Kris will remember.