Home From My Trek to the Lower 48

A few days ago I returned from a three week trip south to visit family and friends. Originally, John and I had planned to fly down to Pensacola, Florida this fall together to stay with our son Jonathan, his wife, Reseth and our six month old grandson, Aaron. I rarely get to go anywhere with John except a short trip to town every great once in a while. So, this was going to be our big excursion. But, when we realized that Jonathan could only get time off during Thanksgiving from his intense Air Force training as a navigator, John figured he should not go, not wanting to leave Joanna here without someone to plow the roads in case of snow.

He encouraged me to go alone, knowing how much I wanted to see Jonathan and his family. What a fun and relaxing time we had together. Jonathan taught me how to fly a really fun kite with lots of action to it, he took me on a motorcycle ride, and he flew me in a small plane over the Pensacola coast, even turning the controls over to me momentarily. Whew!! What a thrill. It was an added plus that they live near the beach, which we visited three times and the temps were still in the 80's. I just love the ocean.

My last night there, Jonathan took me out to dinner at a fancy seafood restaurant. It was a real windy day and red flags were up all over signifying that people should not go in the ocean. The tides were strong and dangerous. We took a little walk on the beach before dinner and were drawn to a large pier where we saw an emergency vehicle parked, facing the ocean. As we got closer, we saw that there were about 60 surfers, all in black wetsuits out surfing the 6-8 foot waves. Having been a surfer myself in Florida, I was so excited to be able to watch them ride the waves. The sun broke through the clouds just as it was setting, making a spectacular picture.

After spending six days with them, I flew over to Atlanta, Georgia where I rented a car and drove up to Franklin, NC. I had planned to just drive up to my parents door and surprise them. When I rang the doorbell and my mother opened the door, I laughed at the look of utter consternation and bewilderment and joy on her face. She kept backing up saying, "D-D-D-D-Daryl !!! Where did you come from? How did you get here? "

It was hard to keep the surprise from leaking out with all my family members that knew about it. But it worked and it was worth all the effort to keep it a secret. I had two wonderful weeks with them, also visiting my sister and her family and my brother and his family. My mother just told me today that it was one of the two greatest surprises in her life. I forgot to ask her what the other one was...