Tennessee

As you probably know last week end was spent in Tennessee. I traveled for the first time by myself. It was quiet. It was bittersweet.

My dad ended up taking me to the airport and on the way there my mom called to ask me to speak with Kyle. He had woken up and neither Brandon nor myself were home. *Brandon was, but we had all thought he stuck with his original plan to leave at 5am to study! Oops! Anyway, so Kyle gets on the phone and with a tired-crying voice he says, "mommy I need you!" My heart melted! I would have turned the car around in an instant if I had been the one driving! I told him I loved him and I'd be back tomorrow etc. I proceeded to call Brandon over and over again, but he would not answer. That's when we found him asleep. At home. Where he could have gotten Kyle rather than my mom. Thankfully, he took Kyle from her and got him to go back to sleep, once he realized what was going on!

So, I reached the airport with about 3 hours to spare. I wandered around for a little bit than sat down for about an hour and a half and waited. I met a nice man who had a lot of things he was traveling with. I took pics of planes setting up for take off, thought Ky could appreciate those, and i read. Finally the plane loaded and took off. It was a very turbulant ride. But we landed in only one hour in Nashville, Tennessee, and that's when I grabbed my rental car and went out into the world to explore!

When I say explore, I mean go to my hotel, check in early, and take a three hour nap. It was marvelous. The streets were so easy to navigate and I even went out and about to a Target once I woke up. Upon my arrival I found a walmart, kohls, sams club, babies r us and toys r us, even a joann fabrics! I told Brandon I felt so at home, and since I've been back, tried to convince many a people to live in the outskirts of Nashville because its awesome, and I hadn't even seen much of it.

I went to Elizabeth's rehearsal where I saw her for the first time since 8th grade. She is such a beautiful girl, inside and out. I swear we hugged for like 10 minutes (definite exaggeration) and the first thing she said was, "You're a MOM!" And she had a very awe struck face! I feel I returned that look many a time that week end! After the rehearsal her dad came up to me and introduced himself, I laughed and told him who I was. He couldn't believe it! He thought for sure I was some new friend he had never met. It was that moment that I had forgotten how much I loved Elizabeth's dad. The whole family! I stuck close to him much of the wedding day and felt a little more secure.

By the time I had to leave I couldn't decide if I really wanted to! ha! My flight had been delayed 2 hours and wouldn't arrive home until after 11pm Indiana time, which included 2 ish hours of driving as well. But, I missed my family so dearly that I ached to be back! Once again I waited in the airport for many hours, I think it was a 4.5 hour wait this time, since I had to get my car back at a certain time I had to hang at the airport for quite awhile with the delay!

Once we boarded our flight attendants apologized for the delay (we left at 11pm Indiana time) but they were in good spirits and made for a fun flight. When the plane was ascending they told us they wanted to make sure we received a snack so they sent peanuts flying down the aisle. Followed closely behind were the "drinks" which was a bottle of water and a can of pop sliding down.

When the plane landed I was out as soon as possible. When I saw my family waiting for me, I ran! My kids ran to my arms and they both told me that they had missed me "so much" which was returned to them! I had such a wonderful time and I wouldn't trade that time spent for the world. BUT I missed my family and can't wait to go on our first vacation together!

I did try to convince Brandon that once he graduates we should move to Tennessee... assuming we can find a job out there... :o) Any friends joining us?