Road Trip

My Uncle Melvin passed away on Wednesday so I decided to make a road trip to say good-bye, visit with the family and listen to all of them re-tell family folklore (the stories that are told so many times you don't know if you remember them or have just heard them so many times you feel like you have lived them). I was back and forth on whether or not I should make the quick trip, but in the end I'm glad I did. P.K. is still out of town so the kids and I left about 9:30 on Friday morning and got back this afternoon (Sunday). I don't like to make such quick trips there because I don't get a chance to see my friends.

My dad kept the kids while I spent time at the funeral home. It was nice for them to see him and I was able to visit with the other side of the family at the funeral home without chasing the kids around.

My niece, Hailey, spent the night at my mom's house with us on Friday night. It was nice to see her and she watched the kids while my mom and I ran to WalMart on Saturday morning. My kids were so excited to see her and thought it was cool that she was in charge for a while.

I have a lot of extended family who all live in the same area. My grandmother had four siblings. Two passed away before I was born. Her brother Ralph was one I never met. He had two children, Danny Lee and Junie. My mom says I have met them once before but I don't remember. They are the only living cousins from my grandmother and her siblings who don't live in the same area. My mom's brother, Dennis, was able to get in touch with them once Uncle Melvin took a turn for the worse. They were able to make it into town as well. It was nice to meet them (or see them again as my mom claims). Junie brought pictures of her grandkids and one of them bears a striking resemblance to my niece. She looks like my grandmother and my grandmother's last living sibling. Junie's brother Danny Lee favors my Uncle Dennis (at least I think so.) Here's a picture of all the cousins at the funeral home. Three are missing because this is the most who were there at one time.

Back Row Left to Right: Danny Lee, Keith (his dad's funeral)Ralph, Steve (his dad's funeral)
Front Row Left to Right: Mary (my mom's sister who will not be happy that I published this photo, sitting), Junie, Fred, Diana (my mom), Dennis (my mom's brother)

Following are a couple things that were said that cracked me up. These may not be funny to anyone else, but it is my blog and I want to remember these conversations. You may want to stop reading here.

1. This needs a little back ground information. As I have mentioned several times, P.K. has been out of town. That means there is less actual cooking done around here. One night I was going to throw a pizza in the oven for the kids for dinner. Rachel and Aaron reminded me that they had pizza at school for lunch that day. No problem. I decided to throw something else together for them. Hannah went into total meltdown because she wanted pizza. I sent her to her room until she could calm down. I then explained to her that she should be thankful for the food she has. I don't make her eat things she doesn't like and that there are kids in this world who don't have anything to eat and they die from starvation. Yes, I stopped short of blaming world hunger on her. The point...I made it clear that she was not going to have full blown tantrums because the dinner menu happens to change. All of that for the following conversation in the car. At this point we are 1 1/2 hours into our 6 hour drive and I am determined to make it half way before we stop for lunch.

Rachel: Are we going to stop for lunch soon? I'm getting hungry.
Jody: We still have a ways to go but I have snacks packed. (At that very moment I was merging onto a new highway, twelve semi trucks appeared out of nowhere and the heaven opened up and poured rain.) Let me get out of some of this traffic and I'll pass it back.
Hannah: When are we going to eat lunch? I'm starting to starve like those little kids.
Jody: What little kids?
Hannah: Those little kids who starve and die 'cause they don't have any food.

At least now I know she listens to me when I lecture her even when she gets that glazed over look.

2. When I was leaving my grandmother's house on Friday night to go back to my mom's the conversation turned to politics. I made the comment that I was upset I even had to step foot back in Indiana since they went blue in the election (still trying to let it go). I decided to get my grandma riled up.

Jody: Grandma, what do you think about our new president?
Grandma: Well, if I would have voted, I would have voted for him because that other guy is an old man.

My soon to be 89 year old grandmother just called John McCain old. Then she continues:

Grandma: The last time I voted, I voted for Nixon and look what he did.

Ha, ha, ha!