Hitting the Road Again

Tuesday morning was kind of a crazy day. The grandparents were wanting to hit the road again so they could make it to Oklahoma City by Wednesday night, which required that they get going by noon or thereabouts, so we had a kind of rushed morning as they prepped all their stuff and we tried to fit in as much visiting as possible in a very short time.

It's a shame that Dad couldn't hang out longer, as there are enough projects around the house to keep us both busy for a long time -- but then he has plenty of projects of his own to keep him busy! He's always eager to stay busy, as you know, so sometimes it's a struggle to get him to relax a while and just hang out. But I understand the feeling; it's hard to relax when there are so many things that need to get done. Is there really such a thing as 'retirement'? It obviously doesn't mean the same thing to some people as it does to others. I have friends who talk about it like they're going to spend all their time walking around a golf course or touring all the wineries in Italy, but that would drive me completely bonkers. I want to spend my retirement doing what my dad does - hanging out in my shop, making things, helping people get their projects done (although I'd rather focus on cars and electronics than cabinetry, since we all should work on what we know best!), traveling around the country to see my kids, and watching old movies while Cheryl does her craft stuff.
It's always a lot of fun to sit and chat with Mom, although we didn't get nearly enough time on this trip as it was rather short and I was at work some of the time, but we'll have another opportunity in a couple months at the Downs family reunion -- and I'm hoping we get to do the same thing we did last year and get there a couple days ahead of time to get in a nice relaxing mood and hang out longer than we usually do so it doesn't feel rushed. But we'll have to see -- since we're heading out to Germany in August and my vacation time is going to be limited this year. But visiting with Mom just isn't the same unless we get to sit around yapping about this, that and the other thing for hours on end. While eating.
Cheryl bravely hooked up the Grandparent's phones to steal borrow their pictures, especially the ones of James and Tabea's reception last Christmas, which if you have been reading this blog lately, you know that I didn't get any good pictures so I've been going through other people's archives in order to have something meaningful. The "brave" part wasn't the act of "borrowing" -- it was hooking up electronics to her laptop and figuring out how on earth to get them to cooperate. Some days computers just drive me (and her) crazy. Some days I long for the old times when we had Polaroids and Kodaks and had to wait for weeks to get our pictures back! It was far less frustrating.
Deb didn't get to hang out with her grandparents for very long, as she is one of those incredibly busy people (school, job, etc.) but she came over right before they left and was able to get in some family time with them.