Bringing Summer Home

 Our Trip fromPa to Tx taking my daughter and Grandaughter out of an abusive relationship to bring her to my home to heal.

This was a trip I was very apprehensive about as I had had foot surgey 10 days before but since I was off work it was the best time.

I flew Delta from Austin to Erie PA after my Dr.'s appointment.

We started late ( around 9PM) thinking the baby would sleep through the first leg of the trip.

Well ,with construction and just plain bone weariness we got about 4 hours in and called it qiuts for the night.

The stay was not a very classy motel but it was clean and afforded showers that we needed.

Off at 6 Am the next morning to drive across and made an extra hour due to change to cenral time.

Singing became a pastime that came to quiet the baby and it ws fun harmonizing again with my daughter.

Most of the driving was done by my 26 year old daughter as she stated " Mom, you drive like an old Lady!"

We saw Dino world and stopped at McDonalds with play rooms to burn some energy off the 19 month old.

The trip acroos the Missippi was a wonder for my daughter as she had always traveled by plane and had never seen it close up.

That journey  between Memphis and Little Rock was killer... What do they do with the roads there they were in very poor condition and the road whhile well traveled is through a barren stretch.

We stayed a total of 2 nights the second beyond Little Rock as Little Rock was full due to Bill Clinton Visiting that weekend.

But we slurged for a nice hotel this time and slept in comfort.

Trying to calm my daughter, the East Coast bundle of nerves, was the hardest part.

Trying to get her to "smell the roses" was a feat in itself but each mile we put between her x who claims he never wants to see her or the child again was a good mile. The healing had begun.

The change in landscapes and flora and fauna was a delight to her and the baby.

Just stopping at roadside picnic areas and talking to people was a refreshing change for her.

But for me the "WELCOME TO TEXAS" was great second only to my smile when I saw the landscape of my Texas Hill Country. My daughter Summer has only visited me in this area once so this is all pretty new to her.

We made it weary but still singing and a bond once agian has formed.

She will make it, the baby will make it but the trip was a needed tranformation from old to new. A new chapter has started in their lives with the prologue being a trip from Northern Pennsylvania to Mid Texas.

Next Fun Trip will be to show her Mexico.