Somewhere between here and there

So I went to Memphis to hang with the family this weekend. All of that was absolutely wonderful. The weather, on the other hand, was not.

Snow was predicted, but really, being my family, we didn’t put a lot of stock in the weather reporters and figured there might be a dusting of snow. Instead, rain changed to sleet, then snow on Saturday afternoon while we were eating lunch near Wolfchase Galleria. And the snow continued to fall throughout the afternoon and early evening.

At this point, my parents decided they better leave for their home in Missouri. They had always planned to leave on Saturday night due to church obligations, but when the snow started coming down that hard and that fast, Jason, Amber and I all tried to talk them out of it. But it was a no-go and by 5 p.m. or so, they were on their way. They finally got to their house around midnight. It took them 6 hours to make a 2 hour trip! And really, with all that my mom has told me, it is only by the grace of God that they weren’t involved in some sort of accident and got safely home without a scratch on them or their car.

Meanwhile, Jason, Amber, Eli, and I were still hanging out in the Peabody. There was a free dinner (read: paid for by Sandy Ridge Cotton Gin, which my dad and uncle have a tiny bit of ownership in). If you ever have a chance to go to a Brazilian steakhouse, go. It’s an experience all people need to have. The “salad” bar was filled with all kinds of non-salady things, like prosciutto and fancy fried cheeses, and rice and beans, but it was a cultural experience. I had lobster bisque (a first and I liked it); spicy tuna sushi, taboulleh, and a host of other things. The meat-on-skewers and constant flow of servers sort of stressed me out, but everything I ate was really good. You just need to fast for a few days before going to one of these places.

My brother’s family and I had planned to go to Bellevue for church on Sunday morning, but when we got up and saw the condition of the downtown roads, we decided to wait a bit and let things thaw out, then get on our ways to our respective homes. We ended up eating breakfast at a Denny’s across the street. Which might have been a mistake, but we all lived. Around 10:45 a.m., we loaded up our separate cars and went our separate ways.

The roads weren’t too bad for me, or at least I was taking them in stride until the Brownsville area. Here, the interstate was still not completely clear, ice and snow were packed right up to the edge of the highway, leaving no shoulder, cars were plowing right into the median, and tractor/trailers had stopped or jack-knifed in the storm the night before and were taking up entire lanes, forcing traffic all into one sort of iffy lane. I was driving 5 mph at this point and simply happy to be alive. Truckers were driving way too fast and spraying my car with hard pieces of snow and slush. It was SO enjoyable!

After I got past Jackson, Tenn., though, the snow seemed to dissipate, the road was clear and I could drive the speed limit. In the end, it took my 5 hours to make a trip that should only take about 3 hours. My brother and sis-in-law got home in about the same amount of time, but stopped at Blytheville, Ark., for food. (I didn’t stop except to get gas.) Their trip should have only taken about 2 hours.

All that said, I’m happy to be home, even if tired. I had some good times in the car, spent some time in absolute silence, prayed, took some time to center myself and just listen for God to speak to me about some things I’ve been praying about, and heard an old Casey Kasem show (from when Toto was a big band!). Good times.

And now, it’s back to work, jiggity jig.