The Whoas of Traveling (& What makes it worth it!)

"I hopped off a plane at LAX with a dream and a cardigan"...this Miley Cyrus song was stuck in my head last Tuesday as I walked out of LAX and tried to find the first of many buses that I would have to catch on my way to my mother and father-in-law's house in central California.


It had already been a busy week. After my brother's wedding in Michigan on the tenth, I had gone back on the road with my hubby. During that week we had driven back and forth between NY, NJ, VT, OH, MD, and PA several times. Paul had to help unload an entire trailer filled with tires- his skin always has a rubbery smell for the next few days! Fun. Fun.


We weren't sure how I was going to get back to TN in time to make my flight to CA, but by last Saturday it was decided that my parents, who were visiting my Grandmother in MD, would drive two hours up to PA to meet Paul and I.


Together we all went to Mass and breakfast before parting ways. It was hard leaving Paul again. I feel as though we have been apart so much during the last two months and it makes me uneasy about how different life will be once we stop trucking next month. I am looking forward to traveling with my dear husband while we are doing the marketing for Precious Life Books, but not being in the truck is akin to the bittersweet feeling of giving up the first apartment a couple shared as newlyweds- that is literally the case for us! For better or worse, life is changing and it takes some adjustments.


Sorry. In case you haven't noticed, I'm great at going off on tangents! Anyhoo- my parents and I drove through the day and night. We made it back to my house at 3am. I was so tired that I spent the rest of the night sleeping in the car!


I spent my one day home cleaning my house, doing load after loads of laundry and packing for California. Because of my torn meniscus, my back has been trying to compensate for the swelling in my knee. By the end of a day of walking up and down the stairs with hampers of laundry, my poor little body was doubled over with pain. I looked about ninety when I tried to stand up after dinner! My knee was stiff and my feet were sore. My back wouldn't straighten out. As I hobbled about I was some sight to behold! Where is a good chiropractor when you need them late at night???

I finished packing and cleaning the house and climbed into bed at 2am. I awoke at 6 and jumped online to purchase amtrak tickets. My mom drove me up to warm and sunny Nashville to catch my plane. There in the airport I sat across from a well known country musician. :) I was lucky enough to get a nice window seat on the plane next to a very amiable woman. We spent the first hour or more of the flight chatting about everything from growing up in the South to our love of vintage campers. It was a long but pleasant flight.


I had heard that they were calling for rain in LA, but as the song says, "It never rains in California, but girl don't they warn you...it pours! Man, it pours!" The rain outside the airport was coming down in sheets! It was a bone chilling damp that I experienced for the next 6 hours as I took a shuttle, a bus and then a train to my husband's hometown. I dashed off the train and into the old-fashioned, little train station to wait for my father-in-law and my brother-in-law. After 12 hours of traveling, I saw the family van pulling up to the door of the train station. With huge smiles, my FIL and BIL came through the rain for hugs. My 21 year old BIL, who has Downs Syndrome, was so thoughtful that he even brought a golf umbrella and a knit hat to keep me dry!


It was after eight when I walked in the house. Even without my husband being there, the warmth and love his whole family showered upon me made every step of my long, wet journey worth it. I am so blessed to have married into a family whom I love every bit as much as the family that I was born into. God has blessed me so much!


I love the Book of Ruth and feel that, just as Naomi wanted the best for Ruth, my family-in-law is always there for me and looking out for me. I have enjoyed my time with the family so far and, now that the sun finally came out today, I am looking forward to even more fun in the California Sun!!!

Take a moment today to say a prayer for your in-laws or future in-laws! ;)

My two families united as one on Paul and my wedding day!