where the miles go.
nick and i probably switched off driving four or five times going both westbound to the end of tennessee and eastbound back home. he ended up dozing off at some point every time he was in the passenger seat. i'm not a carsleeper.
he drove almost the whole way to tennessee, with the most important stretch being from outside asheville into tennessee when we hit a band of wet snow and ice. the roads didn't look to have been salted but also didn't look wet, so initially i wasn't worried about ice. when the weather persisted and even worsened driving the curves into haywood county, i tensed up in the passenger seat, staring at the road where our headlights hit and holding my breath as we passed semis. nick had one hand on mine when they weren't both on the wheel, trying to reassure me. the air would get less white and the snow would taper off every once in a while, but as soon as bits of ice started to pelt the windshield again i would sit nervously with my hands in my lap. when we finally seemed to have driven through the worst of it, i was so relieved my chin got trembly and i got teary thanking him for driving so carefully and taking care of me.
thank goodness for boys who are used to driving in colorado snow.
and thank goodness for well-behaved (albeit whiny) dachshunds that whimper from the backseat of long roadtrips. we took the dog with us since he obviously couldn't stay at home by himself for three days, and even though he would make little worried groans every once in a while, he was happy to jump from the backseat to the console between nick and me and ride in my lap for a little while. with about three hours left in the trip, he decided it was bedtime and curled up into a little black ball in the backseat, and he did very well for us the couple times we stopped to let him out to do his dog-duties.
we drove almost the entire length of tennessee in the dark, gaining an hour after passing into central time sometime after knoxville. and even though it was dark, i could still see patches of snow frozen on the shoulder of the interstate. none on the roads, thankfully. daddy let us take the gps, which we didn't need until we got close to nashville since 400+ miles of the trip is just a straight-shot on interstate 40 west. we settled on an australian man as our navigator on the gps, and acted stupid imitating him when he told us to turn right onto the "101st airborne parkway" in clarksville. we really liked how he pronounced "parkway."
it was absolutely freezing by the time we pulled into his grandmother's driveway, which was full of other family members' vehicles. we left everything in the car and went straight inside to warm up with hugs from everyone and hopefully a beer. his family was all spread out through the house - playing cards at the kitchen table, making sandwiches and eating around the counter in the kitchen, watching tv sprawled out on the furniture in the living room. the addition of us two brought the grand total in the house to sixteen that night. i was introduced all around and hugged just as tightly as nick was. i was happy to see and meet them all, but i was most happy to see grandma. i hugged her tightest of all.
nick and i were lucky enough to score sleeping arrangements on the pullout sleeper sofa in the living room, which i crashed on shortly after 1:00 without nick. one of his cousins slept on a fold-out cot against one of the walls, and his grandmother stretched out in the recliner in the corner right next to the sofa bed. i laid there quietly just a few feet from his grandmother as she tried to fall asleep, and cried a little into my pillow, unable to keep myself from thinking how that was poppy's chair and how grandma probably felt most comfortable and comforted sleeping in it, like he was still there. i didn't wake up when nick got in the creaky bed.
everyone got up and dutifully got ready for poppy's service. the town is tiny with just one stoplight - really - and the one funeral home in town is at the same intersection. my eyes welled up almost as soon as we walked into the facility's chapel when i saw poppy's open casket half covered by a flag. we both stood in front of him teary, looking down at him and patting his arm, but at least he looked like himself.
i think i held nick's hand through the entire ceremony except for the couple minutes he got up to speak about poppy and share a memory he had of poppy taking a splinter out of his finger. he held up remarkably well during the whole service, while i was a crying mess through most of it. poppy served four years in the navy, and the service was opened by a colorguard flag ceremony, complete with taps and its presentation to grandma. of course, i wept. there was a final family viewing after the service, and nick and i went back to the side of the casket and talked to him quietly. as the family began to disperse i stayed close to the flower arrangements surrounding the casket, but always turned toward him. for some reason i felt guilty standing so that my back was towards him at all. i probably went back to his side two or three times before i joined nick at the back of the chapel at the exit, crying as i left him.
i hate thinking of any time being the last time i'll see someone.
grandma's house had twenty family members dispersed through it after the service. nick was still exhausted from the long drive, the late night he had had the night before, and the two or three hours of sleep he had gotten, so he tried to nap on the fold-out cot in the living room. when people kept deliberately pestering him by pinching his nose, throwing a toy onto him while he slept, or putting him in a headlock while he slept (because that's what uncles do), he got up in a huff and disappeared down the hall. i had defended him to the people who were messing with him while he was snoring a little -"he hardly slept last night; he worked all day monday and we had a long drive out here; he's only snoring because he's on his back and exhausted." after a few minutes i left my seat in poppy's recliner to find him, and found him sprawled out on an air mattress in a quiet room in the basement with the blanket pulled over his head. i started to leave and shut the door, but heard him say my name so i came back into the room. he was pissed off from everyone messing with him, which he obviously didn't need due to the lack of sleep, let alone the grief from losing poppy, so i laid down carefully to comfort him for a little while and ended up falling asleep myself. we napped for almost three hours, got up and spent most of the evening watching tv in the living room.
we both woke up restless a little before 8:00, and decided that we would go ahead and gather our things, pack up the car and go. within half an hour we had hugged everyone and loaded up the car, then started the 8+ hour drive home. he took at least three short naps while i drove, but was more than happy to discontinue them long enough for us to stop in asheville and grab some dinner and a pint at barley's.
the sun set soon after we left asheville, and we were home two hours later. it always feels like the car has enough momentum to get all the way home after coming down the winding road from black mountain. at least, after such a long drive, coming down the mountain felt like we were almost home.
i keep stretching my legs out underneath the covers and finding a cool spot that feels good on my feet.
i am not much longer for this day.
he drove almost the whole way to tennessee, with the most important stretch being from outside asheville into tennessee when we hit a band of wet snow and ice. the roads didn't look to have been salted but also didn't look wet, so initially i wasn't worried about ice. when the weather persisted and even worsened driving the curves into haywood county, i tensed up in the passenger seat, staring at the road where our headlights hit and holding my breath as we passed semis. nick had one hand on mine when they weren't both on the wheel, trying to reassure me. the air would get less white and the snow would taper off every once in a while, but as soon as bits of ice started to pelt the windshield again i would sit nervously with my hands in my lap. when we finally seemed to have driven through the worst of it, i was so relieved my chin got trembly and i got teary thanking him for driving so carefully and taking care of me.
thank goodness for boys who are used to driving in colorado snow.
and thank goodness for well-behaved (albeit whiny) dachshunds that whimper from the backseat of long roadtrips. we took the dog with us since he obviously couldn't stay at home by himself for three days, and even though he would make little worried groans every once in a while, he was happy to jump from the backseat to the console between nick and me and ride in my lap for a little while. with about three hours left in the trip, he decided it was bedtime and curled up into a little black ball in the backseat, and he did very well for us the couple times we stopped to let him out to do his dog-duties.
we drove almost the entire length of tennessee in the dark, gaining an hour after passing into central time sometime after knoxville. and even though it was dark, i could still see patches of snow frozen on the shoulder of the interstate. none on the roads, thankfully. daddy let us take the gps, which we didn't need until we got close to nashville since 400+ miles of the trip is just a straight-shot on interstate 40 west. we settled on an australian man as our navigator on the gps, and acted stupid imitating him when he told us to turn right onto the "101st airborne parkway" in clarksville. we really liked how he pronounced "parkway."
it was absolutely freezing by the time we pulled into his grandmother's driveway, which was full of other family members' vehicles. we left everything in the car and went straight inside to warm up with hugs from everyone and hopefully a beer. his family was all spread out through the house - playing cards at the kitchen table, making sandwiches and eating around the counter in the kitchen, watching tv sprawled out on the furniture in the living room. the addition of us two brought the grand total in the house to sixteen that night. i was introduced all around and hugged just as tightly as nick was. i was happy to see and meet them all, but i was most happy to see grandma. i hugged her tightest of all.
nick and i were lucky enough to score sleeping arrangements on the pullout sleeper sofa in the living room, which i crashed on shortly after 1:00 without nick. one of his cousins slept on a fold-out cot against one of the walls, and his grandmother stretched out in the recliner in the corner right next to the sofa bed. i laid there quietly just a few feet from his grandmother as she tried to fall asleep, and cried a little into my pillow, unable to keep myself from thinking how that was poppy's chair and how grandma probably felt most comfortable and comforted sleeping in it, like he was still there. i didn't wake up when nick got in the creaky bed.
everyone got up and dutifully got ready for poppy's service. the town is tiny with just one stoplight - really - and the one funeral home in town is at the same intersection. my eyes welled up almost as soon as we walked into the facility's chapel when i saw poppy's open casket half covered by a flag. we both stood in front of him teary, looking down at him and patting his arm, but at least he looked like himself.
i think i held nick's hand through the entire ceremony except for the couple minutes he got up to speak about poppy and share a memory he had of poppy taking a splinter out of his finger. he held up remarkably well during the whole service, while i was a crying mess through most of it. poppy served four years in the navy, and the service was opened by a colorguard flag ceremony, complete with taps and its presentation to grandma. of course, i wept. there was a final family viewing after the service, and nick and i went back to the side of the casket and talked to him quietly. as the family began to disperse i stayed close to the flower arrangements surrounding the casket, but always turned toward him. for some reason i felt guilty standing so that my back was towards him at all. i probably went back to his side two or three times before i joined nick at the back of the chapel at the exit, crying as i left him.
i hate thinking of any time being the last time i'll see someone.
grandma's house had twenty family members dispersed through it after the service. nick was still exhausted from the long drive, the late night he had had the night before, and the two or three hours of sleep he had gotten, so he tried to nap on the fold-out cot in the living room. when people kept deliberately pestering him by pinching his nose, throwing a toy onto him while he slept, or putting him in a headlock while he slept (because that's what uncles do), he got up in a huff and disappeared down the hall. i had defended him to the people who were messing with him while he was snoring a little -"he hardly slept last night; he worked all day monday and we had a long drive out here; he's only snoring because he's on his back and exhausted." after a few minutes i left my seat in poppy's recliner to find him, and found him sprawled out on an air mattress in a quiet room in the basement with the blanket pulled over his head. i started to leave and shut the door, but heard him say my name so i came back into the room. he was pissed off from everyone messing with him, which he obviously didn't need due to the lack of sleep, let alone the grief from losing poppy, so i laid down carefully to comfort him for a little while and ended up falling asleep myself. we napped for almost three hours, got up and spent most of the evening watching tv in the living room.
we both woke up restless a little before 8:00, and decided that we would go ahead and gather our things, pack up the car and go. within half an hour we had hugged everyone and loaded up the car, then started the 8+ hour drive home. he took at least three short naps while i drove, but was more than happy to discontinue them long enough for us to stop in asheville and grab some dinner and a pint at barley's.
the sun set soon after we left asheville, and we were home two hours later. it always feels like the car has enough momentum to get all the way home after coming down the winding road from black mountain. at least, after such a long drive, coming down the mountain felt like we were almost home.
i keep stretching my legs out underneath the covers and finding a cool spot that feels good on my feet.
i am not much longer for this day.