Anticipation!
That's what it's been like this week for us, as we try to prepare for our older son coming home for Memorial Day ... accompanied by a girlfriend. This has never happened before, you know, and as the final days slowly tick away, we are feeling anticipation ... along with anxiety and nervousness and excitement.
Since both of them will be working on Friday, the most recent plan is for them to leave the Detroit area that night. There is bound to be very heavy traffic northbound on I-75 into the night--the classic long weekend holiday getaway--so I hope they will be realistic about how far they will travel before they get tired and find someplace to crash before finishing the trip on Saturday.
It's about 550 miles, you know. In terms of kilometers: 885. She will get to see the Mackinac Bridge (which links Michigan's two peninsulas) for the first time ...
She might see some deer ...
She will see two- and three-lane undivided highways all the way west from the bridge (and that's half the distance) ...
(That's a file photo from last fall, by the way. Not current conditions. Except the road, which hasn't been upgraded for many years.)
When they get to Escanaba (I'm guesstimating that will be early afternoon Saturday), he will call us at home. Iron Mountain is about an hour away from both places; we will decide which unsuspecting eatery will have the honor of hosting our first encounter (unfortunately, it's too late for us to take bids). Once we meet, we'll have a snack and a long visit. From there, we will visit my mom (all of us) and then head for home.
That's the part my wife is stressing about. She is far from the world's most efficient housekeeper--let's be honest about that--and now it's finally catching up with her. She wanted to get some work done on straightening up the house last weekend and early this week. But it got hot and humid late last week and stayed that way until lats night.
It's cloudy and cooler now, but she's worried about all the housework that remains. She worked on the house Wednesday and will continue today and Friday. But she also has cats that need/demand her attention and babying. Especially her old cat (17 years old--"Mom's baby" I call her) who is very demanding and apparently needs many "kitty breaks," which is when my wife sits and holds and cuddles her. She will try to ignore the sewing machine and my computer, too. Those inanimate objects at times can be as demanding as the old cat and as impossible to resist.
All of a sudden, time is running down on her. You can ignore the clock, folks, but you can't stop time.
I'll help her out, of course. I did last night. We worked on the spare bedroom where they will be staying--removing the boxes from the new computer and printer, which somehow wound up there, and clearing some stuff away. We got a bit of work done, and we'll do more tonight.
I'm not stressing about the house. Got enough stuff to worry about, anyway. All those indefatigable dandelions, for instance. They'll get there's. Again.
I'm looking forward to meeting and getting to know her. My son has been extremely stingy with information and facts about her, aside that she is five years younger than him. So she should expect lots of questions. Inquiring minds want to know, after all.
After we finished working last night, we sat on the front porch for a while as the sun was setting, shared a Dr. Pepper and talked about it. All we want, we agreed, is for her to be relaxed and happy around us. That works both ways, I'm sure. You see, we have never been in this position before. And he's 33. 'Bout time, don't you think? Well, it's hard when you are overly shy and too prone to rationalizations.
One unanswered issue: How much should our younger son be around? Part if the time, of course, but not a lot. The main goal--of everyone--is to get to know each other. Frankly, we can be more frank and adult when he isn't around.
I'm sure we will like her. We will accept her as she is, and hope she does the same. That's the key to lasting friendships. The sad part is, we don't have a lot of time to just talk. You know, about things. About life. They're here for maybe a day and a half. On Monday morning, they're back on the road for that 550-mile drive back home, and I'm off covering Memorial Day ceremonies.
First game of the Stanley Cup finals is also on Saturday night. The DVR will have to watch it for me. I've got much bigger fish to fry that night.
Late update: This morning, he texted me a request to get some pasties for a lunch during their visit. So she will learn first-hand what this classic example of U.P. cuisine really is ...
By the way, that's how a pasty should look ... half-eaten and soon to be completely consumed.
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