Is it bad when people move and don't tell you?
So, last Thursday, after resting a few hours and visiting with my mom for a bit, I got into the rental car and drove down to my dad's house. It was about a four hour drive down. When I rented the car, I told them that I wouldn't leave Ohio. This became a bit of a problem because I forgot that I-77 runs into West Virginia a little north of Belpre, OH and that was the way I had directions to go. So, I had to stop in a rest area and figure out what road would connect me from I-77 and Marietta to Belpre. It was actually easy to figure out and I have driven that way before, but it was poor planning on my part. HAHA!
On the way down, I tried calling a few times to warn my dad that I was getting closer. He knew I was coming in that evening, just not when. Each time I'd get the machine and hang up. I don't really like talking to machines. When I got to his house, I found a note on the door to call his cell. I hadn't even thought to do that on the way down and felt a bit silly. I called and he told me that he was over at the new house. Turns out, they had recently bought a new place and were fixing it up before moving in. He drove over to pick me up and we headed back to the new place.
I got a tour of the new house. He had it all torn up and was doing some remodelling on the interior. They had just torn down a wall and ripped the fireplace wall up pretty good. There were carpenter ants in the wall behind the firplace and the exterminator had been in recently. They also had a dry well put in the back yard. My dad lived in his old house for 20+ years and just this past year had it flooded (twice!) for the first (and second) time ever. This house sits on higher ground, but I think he's not taking any chances. He and his wife have been making a lot of effort to fix the place up and it looks like it will be a really nice place once it's ready.
After touring the new place, we went back to the old house. We ordered some Pizza Hut and had dinner. We spent a good bit of the evening just relaxing and talking. I'm very bad about staying in touch with people when I'm not near them and my family knows that about me. But, I always warm up right away when we get back together. We caught up over all of life's happenings since we'd last talked. We then went back to the living room and we looked at pictures on the computer. I'd brought a CD of pictures that my wife and I had taken over the last year or two. I'd also added a bunch of pictures of me from the last 12 years of Army service. He then did the same with pictures since the last time I had visited.
By 7 PM, I was completely worn out. Travel and being up most of the prior 34 hours really took it out of me. So, I went to bed unnaturally early.
I got up about 6 AM. My dad had made arrangements for us to have breakfast with my grandmother later in the morning. We all got together at Bob Evans at 8:30 and I got to visit with my grandmother for a bit. She's been receiving radiation treatment after having a lump removed from her breast recently. She looked good and my dad told me that she's been doing very well but still had about four weeks to go on the treatments. My grandfather passed away just before I left Korea about a year and a half ago. It's still hard to see her without him there, too.
After breakfast we went back to the house. I spent a few more hours just chatting and then I got ready to go. We took some pictures and then I got back into the rental and headed back north to Cleveland.
My Ecosystem Details