SCENES FROM OUR TRAVELS

We had an interesting run when we were finally able to get rolling again after being down for truck repairs.  Our dispatch was to pick up a loaded container at Tyson in Wallula, WA, instead of our normal company trailer, and head to the Port of Oakland.  The details, as always, were a bit sketchy on the delivery, as our truck was not registered to enter the port, but we hooked up and started our way south, just happy to be on the road again.

With having a late start on this load, we made it into La Pine, OR for the evening and then decided to stage the next day in Dunnigan, CA before making our journey into the San Francicso Bay Area on Friday morning.  On our way into to CA, I took the opportunity to capture another picture of my favorite mountain, Mt Shasta.

About five miles from Anderson, CA the traffic on Interstate 5 was coming to a stop, and the buzz on the CB radio was active.  Instead of trying to decipher the CB talk, I immediately went onto the CHP activity log online, and found out a hay truck had caught fire, and the road was closed and traffic was being diverted off the freeway.

As we slowly crept, about 90 minutes worth, to the vicinity of the off ramp, I took a few pictures I normally wouldn't have been able to take at highway speeds.  Then, wouldn't you know it, just as we were going to have to take the off ramp, we were the first vehicle they allowed through on the freeway and past the fire. 

We made it into Dunnigan to stage for our delivery and attempted to get some more details regarding what to do once we got to the port.  We weren't too successful, other than to find out that we would be meeting up with one of the local TWT drivers, but no one seemed to know where that would be.

Friday morning we ended up getting to the port area by 5am for our 6am delivery appointment.  With quite a few park heres and then end up moving theres, we were finally given the cell phone of the local driver so that we could coordinate where to park for him to take our load into the port.  Only one problem, he didn't even arrive until 9am!  Long story short, 5 hours after arriving at the port, we hooked up to an empty container and we're heading north back to Tyson.

OUR SPECIAL DAY

Eleven years ago today, Craig and I made a commitment to live as husband and wife til death do us part.  It was a simple ceremony, with just the two of us and the required witness, making our vows to each other and asking God's blessing on our union.  Only knowing each other less than a month, we knew the risks going in, but it felt righ,t and God continues to bless us as we tally another year of never once regretting our decision to live the rest of our lives together.

If we would have guessed where our lives would be today, eleven years ago, I doubt it would have even been close to where we are today.  By taking a few more risks along the way, we have arrived at a place where we couldn't be happier, except to be able to be "home" more often.  Nothing shows us that more than when we have to pack up and go back out on the road again.

We've had some long discussions lately on where we want to be in the next couple of years, and everything is pointing towards Craig trying to get more of a local job within the company where he would be home a couple of times a week.  Until then, in order for him to be home consistently, and more often is to go back driving team, where there is extra money for him to be home at least 5 days a month.  We don't envision him having to do this for more than 1 year, as by then my retirement income that I have been waiting over 6 years for will finally start coming in.

What does this mean for this blog?  I'll still be updating you on Craig's adventures, as the teams for TWT are now heading on more runs east, as far as Florida.  No doubt I will have lots of pictures from Craig and stories to tell of his adventures off his normal route of Interstate 5.  For me it means being able to finally start to begin the process of putting down roots at our little house by the river in Usk, and having a sense of community within our little town.  I'll be taking photos, doing small refurbishing projects, decorating the house, visiting my BFF Cori in Walla Walla, and of course making trips to California to visit family as we continue to grieve, heal, and find our new normal without our beautiful and loving Mother & Omie.

For now I'm still on the truck for a couple of weeks, and for today, loving my husband even more than I did eleven years ago, thankful for his support and desire to make our life the best it can be, because really, as long as we are together, with the love we have between us, life doesn't get much better than this.  Happy Anniversary Craig!

DAY FOUR......STILL DOWN FOR REPAIRS

Day four and we are still waiting for the truck to get repaired.  On a happy note, at least this morning, the new part has been delivered.  Word on the service shop floor is that it should be done in about two hours.  Don't know how reliable that source is, but on day four, I'm willing to believe......if it gets us moving again.  I can't take much more of this "held captive" sitting still in the Kenworth lounge all day.  With fingers crossed, I'm hoping for a load assignment by this afternoon, that is if our mole inside the service shop is good on his word.

HEARING THAT NOISE IS NEVER A GOOD THING

We decided to head back to the yard, with a stop to buy groceries, upon hearing of a potential snow storm headed our way up in Usk, WA.  By the time we made it into the yard and unloaded all of our personal belongings and groceries, the wind had kicked up and temperature was dropping fast, but all we managed to get over night was some rain.  However, up in Usk, we did manage to get about 6 inches of snow so I'm glad we left when we did.

Up early Saturday morning, we sent in the message we were ready to roll and we were given a dispatch to head to Tyson Meat in Wallula, WA. All went as planned, dropped an empty trailer, hooked up to our loaded trailer, retrieved the paperwork, and then pulled out into the driveway to move the tandems and then we heard a loud metallic "CRUNCH & CLANK".  I looked at Craig and immediately said "that didn't sound good".

Craig got out of the truck and started looking around and immediately noticed we were tilting to the left.  As you can see from the photos, the left front fender is dangerously close to the tire and the right front is well above the tire.  Craig opened up the hood of the truck to get an inside look and saw that it appeared the front left spring had sprung....so to speak.  What had been a great run with a lot of miles turned into gently nursing the truck and trailer to the Pasco yard where someone else would get the benefits of a nice run south.

As for us?   We are stuck in our lopsided truck, sitting in the yard in Pasco, until the Kenworth dealership, about a mile away opens up.  Our only question is, will they be open on Monday, Presidents Day or not?  Thank goodness we have a full pantry, restroom facilities inside the office, and all the computers, ebooks and smart phones to keep us busy.  It looks like it will be a very long weekend of sitting.

HOME AT LAST

It has been a very long and emotional four months away from home, but we finally stepped foot back into our home Monday afternoon.  I can not begin to tell you how happy it made me feel.  I know I have said it before, but I truly love our little house by the river and will be looking forward to staying there much more often in a few more years.

There really wasn't much we had to do when we got there, as the snow was only about a foot deep and with the unusually warm February weather, it was rapidly melting.  Craig went about turning the water and the satellite dish back on, while I only had to flip the switch for the hot water heater and turn up the heat.

Do you remember almost 9 months ago, a blog entry about a fellow trucker, Ruth Ann from All Things Bradbury, who had sent me this little gem in the mail?  I was thrilled to receive it and knew immediately what I would turn it into, or should I say, what Craig would help me turn it into.

Yesterday we finally sat down and went to work on it and I love the way it turned out.  What I especially love is that it carries with it a ton of memories from Ruth Ann's husband Brad, who took this thermos on many a run in his truck for a lot of years.  If this thermos could talk, I bet it would have some stories to tell, but I will have to settle for it now being a treasured lamp in our little piece of heaven we call home.  Thank you Ruth Ann and Brad!

WILLAMETTE FALLS

It's not very often that I get a chance to take pictures without the truck rolling down the highway at 55 miles per hour, so when Craig opted to park at a vista point for about 30 minutes before our appointment this morning, I grabbed my camera and went exploring.

Willamette Falls was originally an Indian salmon fishing village.  Beginning in 1842 it furnished power for a lumber mill, a flour mill (1844), a woolen mill (1864), and the first paper mill in the pacific northwest in 1867.  On this cool, lightly foggy morning, with the sun just rising, it made for some fun picture taking.

There are quite a few boat houses that line the riverbank, and given the opportunity, Craig and I often talk about living on the water.  It's probably what motivated us, when we saw the Powerball billboard showing a payout for $325 million, to buy a few tickets.

All too soon, it was time for me to head back to the truck and make our first of two deliveries on our current load.  If all goes as we hope, we should be warm and cozy in our own home by the river Monday afternoon.

SUPER BOWL FUN

It's not very often that things work out perfectly in trucking world, but it did for us on Sunday.  We were able to drop the "slow boat to China" banana load in the yard in Pasco, WA and await a loaded trailer full of beer which would arrive later in the evening.  That really left us no other option than to bob tail over to a restaurant  in town and enjoy watching the Super Bowl on a big screen TV in the lounge of the bar. 

You know what else was nice?  Having a couple of nice cold beers (just me, Craig kept to Diet Pepsi), and enjoying a couple of appetizers as we watched the Giants beat the Patriots in a really exciting game.  I'd like to go on record and say my favorite commerical was the Doritos " you didn't see nothing" dog.  Still makes me laugh when I think of it.

After the game we went back to the yard to get some sleep before waking up at 4am to hook up to our trailer and head just 45 miles away to Walla Walla, WA to make the delivery at 6am.  From there we were dispatched to Ontario, OR for a load of frozen french fries.  We rolled into town, fueled up, got a light weight, and then was able to park at the shipper's location to get our 10 hour break in, before being called to the dock to get loaded.

We were happy to see one of our favorite TWT drivers show up, and learn that he would be delivering to the same receiver as us.  Shortly after midnight, we were loaded and scaled and heading out for the first of two nights of night driving.  Thankfully, both Craig and I were able to catch a few hours of sleep during our 10 hour break, but a little after 4am we decided to pull over and take a 2 hr nap in the middle of nowhere in Nevada on Highway 95.

Rested and ready to take on the rest of our journey we took off thinking that we would stop in Reno.  But as I checked the weather for our evening drive, it indicated snow, and neither one of us wanted to take on Donner Pass and putting on chains if we didn't need to.  With what hours Craig had left, we figured we could push on and make it to Dutch Flat, CA and a rest area with a few minutes to spare.

I was a bit anxious, as we went through the Truckee scales and were called in for a Level 3 inspection.  It was evident that they were calling most every truck in, and as I watched the minutes tick by, I was hoping this little stop wouldn't take away too much of Craig's time to make it to the rest stop.  Thankfully, it only took less than 10 minutes and we were on our way and safely parked with about 10 minutes to spare.

Currently, we are once again driving in the middle of the night to make it to our 4am appointment time in Pleasanton, CA.  From there we suspect we may be sent to Salinas for a load out of Fresh Express which would head us back up North, as we have requested home time on or around the 13th.  It's been over 4 months since we have been home and it is long over due for us to spend a little time there.

CHEATING ON DOLE WITH DEL MONTE

So it wasn't pineapples we picked up at Port Hueneme, but bananas......from Del Monte instead of Dole.  I felt like we were cheating since we have never transported any bananas but Dole before.  The guilt lasted all of about 5 seconds.  

The drive to the port was your typical southern California day.....sunny and warm in the 60's. We passed orchard after orchard of oranges and would have loved to have stopped at the fruit stand offering 15 avocados for only $5, but then we would have been forced to eat a lot of guacamole and chips.

The port was packed with other trucks waiting to be loaded when we arrived.  The security guard even mentioned for us to be careful as it was like an obstacle course trying to weave in and around the trucks and trailers parked wherever they could find a space.  Craig checked in, and as we waited to hear his name called over the public address system, saw two more TWT trucks make their way to the waiting area.

After waiting 90 minutes for a dock, we were finally called to one where it took exactly 10 minutes for them to load the trailer.  A quick scale at a small oil company a few miles away, and we were happily on the road headed north.  These bananas don't deliver until the 8th, but we should be in Pasco, WA about 40 miles or so away from the Wal Mart by Sunday afternoon.  Hopefully, we can drop the trailer in the yard and get another load out on Monday.

TRUCK IN FOR REPAIRS

It started last week, while we were in Idaho making the deliveries to the Fred Meyer Stores.  A yellow warning light on the dash lit up and taunted us.  I immediately looked it up in the owner's manual, while Craig checked the in dash computer for a readout on what the problem was, and it was determined not to be an emergency, but something that needed to be checked as soon as we could.

 That time ended up to be Monday, when we made it into the company yard in French Camp.  The truck shop  manager said they might have time to look at it Monday, (while we were busy meeting up with family and having dinner), but we didn't hold our breath that it would indeed be looked at.  The next morning, Craig checked in again, and was told to just take it down the street to the Kenworth dealership to have it looked at.

That one mile drive to their shop, along with a nice 5 hour wait in their lounge, ended up with us calling a shuttle from a local hotel to pick us up when the mechanic told us they would have to order a part.  We enjoyed being within walking distance to a fantastic sushi restaurant, and getting to sleep in the next day.  With another 4 hr wait on Wednesday, watching way too many true crime stories on the cable TV, we were finally given the keys to our repaired truck and we headed to the yard for the evening.

This morning we were up early to deliver a load of chicken wings to Foster Farms in Porterville, CA and are currently sitting at Wheeler Ridge, with our sights set on the Starbucks across the street.  Our next dispatch will have us heading to Port Hueneme to pick up some pineapples in the morning.

THE DREADED NIGHT DRIVING

It's only a matter of time, after enjoying almost a week of what I consider a "normal day" in trucking driving, (getting a good night's sleep, waking up without an alarm, a leisurely morning of getting dressed and putting on at least mascara, and enjoying breakfast in the truck), we ended up on a four day run of night driving and no opportunity to take any photographs. 

It started on Friday morning, after our drop in Clackamas,OR at the Fred Meyer DC at 7am.  After being unloaded and sending in our empty call, we were told to drop our trailer there and await a load that night at 9pm.  The only great thing about it was being able to bob tail about a mile down the street to the parking lot of a McDonald's where we would spend the next 12 hours.

Not to sound like a broken record, but do you think during that 12 hours that we could actually sleep?  Nothing worse than knowing that you need sleep, but not being able to get any, but that's usually how it goes, and innocently thinking that we would only have to do it for one night, (again I should know it never is just for one night), I didn't stress too much about it and went about playing on my computer and watching the homeless guys who made their home in the bushes surrounding the parking lot.

Our load would take us to the Boise, ID area, where we would make two deliveries in Nampa and Garden City.  Those deliveries went as planned, and as we headed to a nearby truck stop we were beeped with our next assignment.  With Craig's hours already nearing using up all of his 70 hour clock, it was a load out of Wallula, WA (257 miles away) to be picked up the next morning.

However, this particular load would require us to once again, start off around 6pm, get to Wallula around 11pm, hook up to our new load, grab a couple of hours of sleep, and then take off again, repeat that a couple more times to get us as far south as we could before a repower of the load by another driver would take it into LA for delivery.  We ended up sleeping on and off, doing a 8/2 sleeper berth option to get us into French Camp by 2pm Monday afternoon.

The upside to all this night driving?  We ended up being able to meet up with my brother and sister in law, and my two nieces and grandniece last night for dinner.  Here is a photo of the aftermath of that dinner and a picture of Gwen sporting a sock monkey hat I had made for her by a facebook friend who is very talented .

1000TH POST

I've finally reached the milestone 1000th post on my blog.  Let the confetti rain down and the band play!  I don't imagine it is such a big thing since I have been posting since 2006......and it's only taken me 6 years to do it, but God willing I'll have another 1000 in me before we finish this trucking adventure of ours.

Tuesday morning we awoke to blue skies and mid 60 temperatures as we made our way south to San Diego to pick up a load of Dole bananas.  Remember me telling you about the off port site, tucked away in a residential area?  We had the pleasure of going there this time to pick up our load. 

It really isn't too bad after you have been there a few times.  There is a homeless guy, who I guess I can't really say is homeless, because he now lives on the grounds of the facility, and likes to make a few bucks by helping the drivers back in.  He really is a big help with the cars and buses that zip up and down the street on a steady basis, getting them to stop long enough to allow the drivers to back into the dock.  We're always happy to give him a few dollars every time we are there. 

On our way out of southern California, and to our eventual stop for the night at Wheeler Ridge, we were blessed with the most beautiful sunset we have seen in a very long time.  It just kept getting better and better as the sun set.  I managed to capture a few shots with my camera, and these shots are straight out of the camera with no editing what so ever.  Yes, it really was that amazing and a great way to end my 1000th post!

THE GOOD AND BAD OF L.A.

We drove into the bowels of LA Monday morning and the Industrial District.  No wide streets here, and cars lined both sides of the road.  We managed to find our first little "hole in the wall" receiver and eeked out a spot in front of their gate to park the truck until someone showed up.  A little before 7am, we saw a lone car pull up, and a small Japanese man exit the vehicle.  He waved to us as he walked into the office and Craig followed shortly thereafter with the paperwork.

With limited English, he pointed to the dock and proceeded to walk out into the street to aid Craig in his blindside back.  Craig had already told him that I would help out, but he stood his ground on the street, and with what I can only describe as the precision of a white gloved traffic cop in New York City, he executed hand signals to get Craig backed up in one continuous movement as I stood open jawed in amazement at just how perfectly he instructed Craig.

Once into the dock, as he walked by me, I took the opportunity to tell him just how fantastic his help had been, and with a big smile and a bow to me, he quickly went inside and had us unloaded in 10 minutes.  Now that is how a delivery should go and quite the opposite of how our last delivery would turn out to be.

First off, you got to love (not) appointments 8 hrs apart.  Our next delivery was only 17 miles away, so we drove to within 300 yards of the facility and parked.  On the off chance that they might take us early, Craig went ahead and walked to the guard who kindly told him to check back in at 3pm.

 Now, the only thing that would make this day work for us, is if we could get in a 8 hr break so that we would have hours on the book to get the heck out of LA after our delivery.  In hindsight, we didn't need to worry, as 3pm rolled around and we were told that the container our product was going to be offloaded into hadn't arrived yet from the docks.  All I can say is thank goodness for our broadband card and the Internet.

Finally, around 5pm, after squeezing into a dock which left no more than an inch or so to spare with the doors of the trailer open, we were being unloaded.  Happy to be free to leave, we had another 90 minutes of commute traffic to endure before we finally arrived at the company yard in Bloomington, CA and a well deserved night of sleep after a very long day!

BEFORE & AFTER OF BLACK BUTTE

Would you believe when we awoke in the morning it was 40 degrees?  Yea, I couldn't either.  What a strange winter this is shaping up to be.  We continued south and didn't run into snow or ice until about LaPine, OR.  We came upon a few drivers that weren't as comfortable driving on the snowy roads, and as soon as we could safely pass, we were well on the way of making it over the final summit on Hwy 97, near Chiloquin, and onto bare asphalt again.

As we neared the Mt. Shasta area, we could definitely see a difference in the landscape from the previous week.  Remember this photo of Black Butte?

Here it was as we made our way into Weed, CA where we took a nice lunch break and enjoyed a great meal at the Dos Amigos Restaurant.  Armed with plenty of leftovers to feed us for dinner, we continued south into Corning were we fueled up and called it a night.

Sunday morning we had our sights set on making it into Lebec, CA so that we could watch the playoff game between the Niners and Giants.  No surprise there, as once again the Giants took the game and will enjoy playing in the Super Bowl in two weeks.  We took to our beds to get some sleep before taking on LA in the morning for our two deliveries.

A SERVING OF SNOW WITH A SIDE OF ICE

We got about a good 6 inches of snow overnight in Spokane on Thursday, so when we awoke early Friday morning, we trudged our way into the driver's lounge to take showers and do laundry.  While I was waiting for the clothes to dry, Craig took the opportunity to start our pick up and head over to the Wal Mart to buy himself some snow boots!  Seems his feet didn't particularly like the loafers he was wearing while putting on chains on Snoqualmie Pass.

When all the housekeeping duties were completed, we took off for Wallula, WA to Tyson Meat to pick up our load.  It wasn't scheduled to be completed until Saturday  morning, but we had high hopes that it would be ready for us when we arrived.  Just as we hoped, it was loaded and ready for pickup, but what we didn't like so much was maneuvering around the snow piles and slush that had built up on the Tyson property.  Once hooked up to our loaded trailer, we couldn't find a place with bare ground to slide our tandems either.  Craig, ever the optimist, drove off anyway, sure that we would find some place with a patch of bare asphalt.

Needless to say, we spent way too much time driving around with no luck, and finally just took matters into our own hands, prayed for the best, and did a quick slide near an on ramp to hwy 395 and were thankful that traffic was light.  We had to laugh when we scaled out, as there had to be several hundred pounds of snow and ice built up on the scales, along with the ice that was clinging to our truck and trailer, but we scaled out legal and were on our way.

The roads were pretty good, however when we turned off onto Highway 14, along the Columbia River Gorge, the roads got a bit tricky with a major layer of ice on the road.  Earlier in the day, they were restricting commerical trucks, but had lifted the ban by the time we got there.  I'm not so sure they shouldn't have kept the restriction, or at least required chains as there was quite a bit of it where I was doing the white-knuckle death grip on my door and arm rest. 

With Craig's great driving skills we make it to Biggs Junction and our next hurdle.  The dreaded Pilot Truck Stop and trying to get fuel.  As usual, it was packed, and it took us just over an hour to make our way in and out.  We were looking forward to getting onto Hwy 97 where we knew the roads were suppose to be a bit better and they were.  With no real time constraints on this load, we decided to call it a night at the rest stop between Shaniko and Madras, OR and await to see what the morning would bring us.

I WORKED ON THE CHAIN GANG

Remember in my last post mentioning the possibility of putting on chains to get over Snoqualmie Pass?  Yep, right there I should have known I was jinxing Craig and in doing so, ended up joining the chain gang later that night.

The streets of Renton, WA were like a ghost town Wednesday night, as most people in the greater Seattle area must have headed the advice to stay home and not venture out onto the streets.  That made our trek to pick up our load that much easier.  However, with the load being over an hour late being loaded, and with the knowledge of the chain control over the pass still in effect, the 5am delivery appointment would not be made.

With enough fuel on board so that we could bypass the mess we knew that the TA in North Bend would be, we continued onto the chain up area to begin our work.  To be honest, the hardest part of it all was trying to open up the bags of the new chains that had been equipped on our new truck.  The freezing rain was pelting us along with a gusty wind, but within 40 minutes we had all the chains legally required installed and we were on our way.  At the bottom of the pass, it took all of 10 minutes to remove them.

We made the delivery at 7am and by 9am we were safely parked in the company yard in Spokane as the snow came steadily down.  Our next load assignment wouldn't have us leaving the yard until Friday morning, so we enjoyed the down time to catch up on sleep and watch as the snow piled up outside. 

THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM OF THE CENTURY

It's a running joke between Craig and I.  Every time we close up the house for the Winter, it doesn't snow.  The two times I decided to try and stay at the house, once in 2008 when we broke the record for snowfall in a 24 hour period, and one again in November of 2010 where a 100 year old record was broken for snowfall, it's a guarantee that snow will be sky high.

So imagine my hesitation getting back onto the truck this winter, which measured by seasons past, has had the least amount of snowfall so far, and hearing about a major storm to hit the Pacific Northwest.  Of course, our first load would take us right into it's path and those poor souls in Seattle can blame me for the woes of snow driving on hilly roads.

These pictures were taken as we headed north, the proverbial "calm before the storm", as I marveled at the lack of any snow on Black Butte, and virtually no snow on the ground as we passed Weed, CA and passed over the Siskiyou Summit. We only managed to hit some rain showers as we decided to stop early for the evening in Aurora, OR and await the arrival of the storm and traveling when the roads would be less crowded around 1am.

We got through Portland and then as we crossed the border into Washington the snow was falling and the roads were more white than asphalt.  What also surprised us, was the amount of traffic that was still on the roads, and being more afraid of the four-wheelers than the weather conditions, we took it slow and easy, as we passed car after car spun out on the Interstate.

What normally would have been only a 3 hour drive, turned into a 4 1/2 hour drive which still got us into the Costco in Sumner, WA right on time for our scheduled delivery at 5am.  After our unload we drove the 10 miles to our Company Yard in Pacific to park and await further instructions as to our next load.  Thankfully, our next load is out of Renton, Wa tonight at 10pm, where we will once again hope to avoid traffic as we make our way over Snoqualmie Pass (hoping we don't have to chain up) to make our delivery in Spokane in the morning.

THE START OF OUR "NEW NORMAL"

Today begins the start of our "new normal" after a long 7 months of our lives being altered by the effects of cancer and the death of a parent.  I wouldn't wish parts of this on my worst enemy, but there were other parts of those 7 months that will be cherished as the priceless gift that they were.  Memories good and bad, but the bad ones are slowly fading, as the good ones rise to the surface like a rich cream that coat my brain with joyful images.

I slept last night in the truck for the first time in almost 6 weeks.  I can honestly say, it was the best sleep I have had in a very long time.  We spent a few hours yesterday cleaning and organizing the truck, then doing the grocery shopping and stocking the pantry and refrigerator.  My portfolio of paperwork was stocked with receipt books, load info cover sheets, continuous seal reports and comm checks.  I also made sure to stock up on new pens and can safely say, I'm ready to take back my responsibility for the mass of paperwork that is required on each load.

We will be heading out shortly to Livingston, CA to Foster Farms to pick up a load of chicken which will be delivered in Sumner, WA on Wednesday morning.  I'm happy to be back occupying the passenger seat again, taking photographs of our gypsy life out on the road, writing about our adventures, and finding peace in knowing that we have a very special guardian angel looking out for us along everysingle mile we drive.

REMEMBRANCE OF MOM

6-1-33        1-2-12

Some of you have noticed my absence in blogging world over the past month.  I've had the privilege of  taking a journey with my Mom as she traveled down her last days of living in her physical form here on Earth.  Most of us think that our parents will live forever, and the unexpected end of her life was hard to initially accept.  In the end, it was always in her hands and the loving grace of God as to when she would finally leave us.  That time came this morning as she peacefully slept at our local Hospice House.

Something moved me to go to her side at 6am, with one hand holding her hand, and the other placed softly upon her chest, I told her how much I loved her, and that she was free to go, and that I had kept my promise to never leave her alone while she awaited God's calling.  Her breathing slowed to a stop.  Her nurse was summoned, and at the moment I heard him tell me that indeed "She is gone"", there were other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout:  "Here she comes!"

Welcome to Heaven Mom and let the party up there begin as you unite with the family and friends that have been waiting with open arms for you.  My love for you is unending and you will always and forever remain in my heart.