Sunday, December 12, 2004

I woke up a little before 8am, after a restless night of sleep.  I guess it’s always weird sleeping in a new place, especially because I’m used to snuggling up behind Tracey, even if I go to bed way after her.

I picked mom up and we got on the road a little before 10am.  Thankfully, the speed limit is 70mph, so I got to drive 80 all the way here, which made the trip go a lot faster than it used to when I was a kid.  We stopped at the MS Welcome Center where I always used to get free soda when we stopped.  I stopped in Hattiesburg to get this journal.  We got to my Uncle Dennis’ house and my Aunt Debbie, Uncle Bobby and Aunt Sheila, my cousin Clay and his wife and baby were all there, along with my Aunt Betty.  I hadn’t seen most of them since I was a kid.  It was odd to see my cousins all in their 20s now who were 10 or younger the last time I saw them.  Uncle Dennis had made a massive BBQ so I tried to eat a little before I headed over to Dad’s.

I drove over to Dad’s after that and talked with him and Marlene for a while.  They gave me some gloves, a hat and a cute Santa ornament wearing skis and with arms that move back and forth with ski poles.  We took some pictures and went over to Mawmaw’s house for peas and cornbread.  I didn’t eat much there either.  When I was walking up the driveway, Mawmaw said she thought I was a boy because of my short hair.  She had dark shades on.

I saw my Uncle Mike for the first time since I was a kid.  It was weird seeing him and some part of me wanted to say something to him.  We all took Mawmaw back to the nursing home and she rode with me.  It was a little awkward trying to make small talk with her.

After I left there, I decided to call Aunt Mary’s and go by to see her and get Pasha’s phone number.  Candy, Krisha and their kids were all there and I stayed for a couple of hours talking to them.  Aunt Mary took me in the woods where Uncle Richard built a metal building to build their house in.  We saw a deer run across and it was amazing to see so many stars – even the faint ones you can’t see in the city.  I went to get mom at Uncle Dennis’ and we looked for a motel, but none would take animals, so I had to get a room at EconoLodge and not tell them we had the dog with us.