Until We Meet Again

07/29/06 – This morning was a little more relaxing because breakfast wasn’t until 9:00. We had pancakes and eggs (and all the other breakfast stuff left over). We sat around and visited and waited for Rachelle to finally show up. She had been in Arizona all week taking care of Aunt Sandra and was supposed to show up in time for Savanna’s baby shower.

Lindsay’s flight was at 12:30, so we had to leave to the airport by 11:30. We said goodbye to everyone twice as well as my cousin Shana Clanton who lives 2 or 3 doors down and showed up at the last minute, and headed to the airport. We dropped Lindsay off and returned the rental van and headed back to the airport on the shuttle. It was fairly uneventful again. We saw Lindsay board her plane, and then went to Wendy’s for some lunch and watched the airplanes take off from the window. Stella loved that.

We boarded the plane and I think that Stella and I were asleep before the plane even left the ground! It was a straight flight and Stella slept for more than an hour. I used to love having her sleep on me, but she’s getting so long now it’s kind of uncomfortable, especially in such a tight space. She was a good little girl the rest of the flight and spent most of it playing on the floor at my feet.

We had 17 messages when we got home. I hurried to unpack (which is always a good feeling) and started some laundry. It was an exhausting trip, but also very fast. I just wish that all of my cousins could have been there. I kept expecting Natalie to walk through the door each day to surprise all of us, but it never happened.

I’m really happy that we went and I’m glad I got to see most of my family again, although I don’t feel like I spent much time with anyone and definitely failed in the picture-taking department . . . I didn't even get a picture of Grandmother!

John and I have talked about the next reunion and how much fun it's going to be. I honestly think that we'll all be perfectly happy with playing games at the park and we won't have to spend a dime! It’s tough to get such a huge family all together at the same time, but I’m hoping that the next one will be more heavily populated. It’ll be fun.