On Monday the day was drizzly. But by five o’clock giant snowflakes fell in fury. When I woke up Tuesday morning, a good six inches of snow had bent the tree in the front flower garden in half.
When Wyatt came home Tuesday night and suggested a weekend trip to Phoenix, my initial reaction was overwhelmedness. Who will watch the kids? How will we get to the airport? What if I get sick?
But that night I googled the five day weather forcast for Phoenix: 90 degrees and Sunshiney.
I leaned over to Wyatt and said: “We should so go to Phoenix this weekend!”
Fast forward 24 hours. No babysitter available: “Well, we could just leave tonight and drive. We can take the kids.”
Fast forward another 24 hours. We’re here in Phoenix. It was 90 degrees as we pulled in. I layed in Wynn and Heidi’s grass for the afternoon while Olivia and Weston released Olivia’s pet butterflies (How dedicated am I? I drove all the way to Phoenix so I could humanely release the butterflies in a warm climate. That’s my party line). Everett played in his diaper in the back yard. Calvin entertained himself on Weston’s four wheeler. And Wyatt ran errands with Wynn.
As we drove through Southern Utah I had the strangest memories – “I remember we ate at a diner in this town once. What is this town again?”
“Didn’t we go to Panguitch Lake once?”
“I remember we talked about building storage units in this town once.”
“Footloose is the coolest movie ever. Remember when she plays chicken with the semi truck?”
I love road trips. I love eating in little hole in the walls, and conversations all night so we stay awake while we drive, and making up interesting conversation to keep small children engaged and unaware of just how long this is taking.
While I am here I am going to:
- pick fresh oranges and grapefruit from the vacant yard next door
- lay in the grass, which is green and soft, and sleep the day away while the kids play around me
- take Olivia to see Tangled
- get some cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory with Heidi (an Anj/Heidi tradition!)
- Sit in the porch swing and have conversations with myself and anyone else nearby.
- Sleep.
- read O Pioneers (I meant to grab My Antonia)
- Sleep again.
- Take pictures of the stars?
Hurray for weekend road trips!