What makes our last second jaunt to Florida a bit less nutty is that my dad had heart surgery a couple of months earlier and I hadn’t seen him yet–and he hadn’t seen baby Hot Fireshot yet.
He collapsed one afternoon–in front of a notable doctor, and down the street from a renowned hospital for heart surgery. A 50-something year old guy in better shape than my weight-lifting, running, healthy-eating dad would be difficult to find. Or a 30-something year old, for that matter. But suddenly, he’s on the ground, then in a hospital, and they discover 89%-99% blockages in his arteries and rush him into quintuple bypass.
So despite my parents saying a bunch of stuff about too-far-with-baby-three-kids-we’ll-be-there-soon-too-much-trouble-for-you, etc., I remembered suddenly, “Hey, since when do I do what my parents tell me to do?!” And off we went.
I texted madly with my sister on the way, but no one else knew we were going. (We had to tell someone: “Wouldn’t it be interesting if they were flying to our house to surprise us while we were driving there to surprise them?” Tom mused on the way.) Only my sister knew we were hurtling down the highway. . . without diapers (quick stop at a store two hours into the trip) or a front left headlight (another stop three hours after that) or any idea which way to go–just unblinking faith in the lady in the GPS who narrated the journey. (She speaks, of course, with a lovely Australian accent, set that way to appease Martin’s insatiable obsession with Australia.)
So after leaving home at 2 pm, we stopped around 9 pm for the night and left early in the morning, racing toward Florida, hoping to be in time for Christmas Eve.
1. elburro:
February 18th, 2009 at 10:30 am
I absolutely love the way your trip happened. You did what you needed to do and that was that. It would be so nice if we always had that clarity of purpose…
elburro’s last blog post..Spring Is In The Air #
elburro:
February 18th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Also, glad that you’re back!
elburro’s last blog post..Spring Is In The Air #
Must Be Motherhood:
February 18th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Love that you left without diapers. Living on the edge, baby!
Must Be Motherhood’s last blog post..Stalling #
Sharon:
February 18th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Certainly hope that you Dad is doing well. Did you throw juice boxes and crackers in those garbage bags too?
Sharon’s last blog post..President Barack Obama #
Marjorie:
February 21st, 2009 at 10:46 pm
elburro, it definitely felt like “clarity of purpose,” and I so appreciate you putting it that way when my friends were calling me “crazy.”
MustBe, no diapers, but I ended up stuffing dish towels and pillowcases into the garbage bags by accident…
Sharon, thank you–my dad is doing great. He feels better than ever, and he looks wonderful. He was back to feeling good in about two weeks. And the only food we had in the whole house was a half bag of bagels, so we brought that and water, and luckily, that appeased them when they got hungry…
Breeder:
February 23rd, 2009 at 10:28 pm
After my dad had his surgery, I drove against my parents wishes through a snow storm that stretched for 2 hrs of driving with my 4 year old in the back seat. I understand, not seeing your dad after such an event is just not an option. (Ps: I’m glad you’re back too!)
Breeder’s last blog post..All Fingers and Toes Accounted For #