Getting Back To Normal

Wow, it sure seems quiet around here now that our daughter Tiffany and granddaughter Destiny are back home in Arizona.

As I said in yesterday’s blog, the girls flew out of Daytona Beach at 6:30 AM, which means they had to check in at the airport at 4:30. Since Terry and I seldom get to bed before 2 AM, and it’s a half-hour drive to get there on a good day, it didn’t make any sense for us to even go to bed. So we stayed up until it was time to leave. There was almost no traffic on Interstate 95 at that early hour and it was a quick trip. Before we went inside the terminal, we had to have one last group photo.

Daytona Beach International Airport is not very big and not very busy, but at that time of the morning, there was almost nobody around.

We had to wait for a while because the ticket counter wasn’t open, but once the girls were checked in and their baggage was on the carousel, we went upstairs and hung out by the gate for a little bit, saying our last goodbyes. That is always bittersweet, but we know they needed to get back to their lives, and we needed to get back to normal, too. Or at least whatever passes for normal around here.

When we got home we were both so tired that we just cleaned up, brushed our teeth, and went to bed. We slept for a little over six hours, then really didn’t do much at all for the rest of the day. Hanging out with two young ladies for over a week wore us old farts out!

Tiffany and Destiny could have taken a flight that left a little later in the morning, but that would have put them into Phoenix about 4 PM, and it’s at least a three-hour drive through the mountains to their home in Show Low. Because it’s winter and gets dark early there, and because it’s not uncommon for deer, elk, and even bear to wander out onto the highways at night, we wanted them to be able to drive home before it got too late.

As it turns out, that didn’t happen because after a couple of hours of layover in Charlotte, North Carolina on the first leg of their trip home, they boarded the airplane and then were stuck on the runway for over an hour because something had to be changed or adjusted because of the new 5G rollout. In the meantime, it was cold, with a winter storm coming their way, and once the techs were done doing their job, there was another delay because the plane had to be de-iced. The end result was that they still got into Phoenix late in the day, and it was dark by the time they got home. Tiffany said she was so tired that the last 75 miles or so were very difficult, but she and Destiny were talking and singing to stay awake. We were relieved when she called to tell us they were home.

Like last week, we have another cold front coming through that will bring us wind, rain, and low temperatures. Most of the next ten days the highs won’t be out of the low 60s, and one day is even supposed to be down to 57 degrees. But that’s okay, I need to get back to writing, and Terry has a lot of projects she wants to do around the house, so we won’t be bored.

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us, courtesy of our friend Peter Ambrose.

Be sure to enter our latest Free Drawing. This week’s prize is an audiobook of The Driving Lesson by my friend Ben Rehder. While Ben writes some excellent mysteries, including the wildly popular Blanco County series, this tale of a boy and his grandfather on an unplanned road trip across the country is a coming of age story that will tug at your heartstrings. To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed.

Thought For The Day – I love putting on warm underwear fresh out of the dryer. And it’s always fun to look around the laundromat and try to guess who they belong to.