On the road again, Becky updates

We left Amarillo this morning at 5 a.m. so I could put in a few hours at the office in Decatur; partly to help me stay current on work related projects and partly to make this part of the trip a work-related trip. All in all it will help personally and professionally since we have to be here for the closing at 3 p.m. in Bowie. We are five hours closer to Pace, Florida any way you look at it.


Mama and the others are going to the farm while I am here. We split up in Bowie at a gas station off of Hwy 287 so I could get here at a reasonable time – I have to leave here at about 2:15 p.m. to make the closing - I did not want to be too obvious. I wanted to be at the farm for the initial impressions. It is the first time Grandma and Chase will be seeing the place and I am very curious about how Grandma will feel about it; especially since we are talking about her and Grandpa spending the remaining years of their lives there.

We stopped several extra times because we have both dogs with us and it is the first time we have traveled with Ketsia. It took her several hours to settle down. I think she loved having everyone close at hand but she is a very active dog and used to having plenty of room to play. Not only that, but she was not fed or watered or let out to potty as is her usual morning routine and this is a dog who loves routine. Poor thing was all messed up this morning.

I stopped at the side of the road this morning because Mama thought she might be whining to go potty. After Mama got her out to go she seemed uninterested and I got fussed at for stopping at a place that had no grass. I could only say, “We are in a 17 month drought. Not much is growing anywhere.” But my emergency stop was too prickly for the tender pooch so we moved on. As it turned out she was more thirsty that anything and Mama took care of that with my water.

Charles called yesterday afternoon to give an update on Becky. She only had five minutes to talk so the conversation was brief between them but he got the understanding that she was pretty overwhelmed. His advice to her was to “toughen up” and hang in there. I thought that was good advice; perhaps not overly loving, but good advice none the less – especially in light of the fact that she has made a big commitment she will be required to follow through on. He said she spent the second night she was in basic training in the emergency room for severe cramps which seems to have been credited to her menstrual cycle – as diagnosed by male army doctors.

Anyway, she is surviving and her husband says that he really missed her. His biggest concern is how much she will improve physically during her time there – and what the spill over effects of that may be between them on her return. I am just hoping she makes it. As I have stated before, she is not our most physically active child.

We will be on the road all day tomorrow and busy with the wedding finalization through the remainder of the week so I will not have regular postings to share.

P.S. It will be difficult to outdo this anniversary present for Mama, but I hope to have another 29 years to try.