We are home after traveling 3,278 miles safely. Man did it feel good to pull into the driveway. I am wiped out. I did all the driving this trip and if I don’t get into another car for a month I will be happy.
We left Indianapolis around 7:30 this morning. It was raining when we left. We didn’t have breakfast at the hotel although Kathy grabbed a cup of coffee. We headed home as we had 600 miles to drive today.
An hour or so down the road I looked at the clock and it said the same time it said when we left. It took me a minute to remember we had changed from Eastern time zone to Central. We got to redo the hour. That was a bit disheartening.
The miles seem to pass rather quickly today except for the last 100 or so. The closer we got to home, the farther away it felt.
We didn’t hit stop and glide traffic until we got to KC and then we hit it twice. The first time I pulled off and bypassed most of the slow down. The second time we mustered through it.
We saw early spring back east and almost summer time as we got home. We paid anywhere from $2.79 a gallon for gas (Kansas) to $3.39 (Missouri). Most of the time it was around $3 a gallon.
Back east they have had more than their share of rain. Lots of flooding and rain going on while we were there. We could tell KS had gotten some but the ponds were still low.
My goose egg has disappeared on my forehead from my mishap yesterday. It is still tender to touch but otherwise OK. Last night my right wrist and hand hurt all night. I think I may have sprained it during my trip and fall. I took some ibuprofen and it felt better although in certain positions it sends pins and needles up my fingers and down into my arm. I also must have hit the side of my head when my glasses went flying as there is a tender spot there too. Wished I had a video of the mishap. Not really sure what all happened.
We are going to wait till tomorrow to unload the car. We each brought in our suitcases and decided the rest could wait. We may take Kathy’s car to go get the dogs tomorrow. I may not get my car unloaded for a couple of days. The thought of carrying all that stuff is overwhelming as is thinking about where to put it all. We will probably store it in the shed and bring in a box at a time to go through.
The remaining things that need taken care of are waiting for a copy of the death certificate and not sure when we will get those. I think I will set everything aside until next week and then take a fresh look at it and go from there. Not much left to take care of and none of it is urgent.
It is going to take a couple days for all of me to get home. I haven’t slept well on this trip and need to catch up on sleep. Thankfully I don’t have anything on my calendar for the next couple of days except for picking the dogs up. I will welcome the empty space so I can process the trip and release some pent up emotion.
I will offer myself some grace and have zero expectations of getting anything done through the weekend. I will make a list of things that need to be done for next week and allow that to be enough for a bit.
Doing this project makes me want to get more active with my Death Doula work, especially helping people name their power of attorney, reminding them to make sure all their accounts have a beneficiary named, and that their last wishes are known to their family members. It makes it so much easier for survivors if that is all taken care of. If you need help with getting your affairs in order, reach out. I would love to help.
Grateful to be home safely, grateful Kathy and I were able to make this trip and take care of business, and grateful to be able to sleep in my own bed tonight.