My nephew Jared, his wife Kourtney and their sweet baby girl picked us up on Sunday afternoon, taking us to their historic row house in the heart of Lebanon, PA. The cozy guest room on the third floor was exactly what we needed after the stress of dealing with Paul's broken-down bike, a hair-raising ride on my bike in the middle of a rainy night, and the uncertainty of how long it would take Earl to put Victoria back together again. Yes, we name the motorized vehicles in our family. But back to the lovely accommodations.
Jared and Kourtney reassured us they were happy to have two raggedy travelers drop in totally unannounced to stay for an, as yet, undetermined amount of time. Kourtney produced a lovely meal out of nowhere and I tried not to think of the plans they probably had to change to take care of us.
I'm a control-freak. And very independent. I like to be able to come and go as I please, pay my own way (with Paul's money), and not be a bother to anyone. I guess that means I have a sizable amount of pride too. I said God must be trying to teach me how to receive blessings from other people, among other things. Paul said he hoped I learned this particular lesson rather quickly since we would most likely be stuck in PA until I got the message. I stifled the urge to inquire whether or not he thought he might be learning anything and admitted to myself he may be right.
Before I totally despaired about how I would pass the time until we could be on our way, Paul discovered Jared had been remodeling the nursery upstairs. Since Paul likes nothing more than being busy, especially with anything in the carpentry field, he offered his services and they made plans for the next two days. The nursery walls and ceiling would be repaired and painted, along with the hallway and down the stairs.
Kourtney mentioned she wished she knew more about how to preserve fruits and vegetables. Since this is peach season the decision was made. She would leave early in the morning in search of peaches suitable for canning and I would show her how it's done. The prospect of having something productive to do had a wonderful effect on my shaky psych. Suddenly I realized this lesson-learning business might actually be fun.
After Monday's work was done, four tired, hungry, and satisfied people sat down to devour juicy steaks hot off the grill. Even the baby seemed pleased. I reveled in the knowledge I had made it through Day One without freaking out. And I had even enjoyed myself. And my nephew and his wife seemed genuinely glad to have us there mooching off them. Earl had told Paul that Victoria wouldn't be road-ready until Tuesday night at the earliest. That meant one more day to go. So far, so good.
Tuesday morning while the men folk finished up the wall prepping, I worked on the laptop. Before noon I had waded through quite a list of emails, phone calls, and other chores I was able to accomplish thanks to the miracle of technology. We had all agreed to finish up whatever we could by 1:00 and take the rest of the day off to go see a dramatization of the Bible story of Joseph showing at the well-known Sight and Sound theater in Lancaster. Jared had connections whereby we bought tickets and packing up baby we headed out for some fun. And fun it was. Amazingly, I had made it through two days in which I had virtually no control of anything and I was still alive and well. And happy. Who knew that was even possible?
We decided to check into a hotel for the night, close to Earl's shop so we could be on the road back home as early in the morning as possible. With plans to eat out together one more time we discovered via facebook my nephew Mike from WV was in town. So, a phone call later, he met us at the restaurant and a regular family party ensued.
Earl called and said the bike was done. Paul fairly danced a jig. I sighed with satisfaction and the anticipation of eventually making it back to Ohio again. With hugs and goodbyes all around to my two nephews, one wife, and one sweet baby girl, Paul and I walked across the street to our hotel and slept the sleep of the blest.
This morning we left Pennyslvania, with blue skies overhead and the warm sun at our backs. Nine hours later we pulled into our driveway. There is nothing so wonderful as coming home again, with a wealth of new and wonderful memories to cherish.
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