Did I mention how crazy our planning was for this trip of mine? All along I was to run like mad the moment I heard my daughter was going into labor. In good traffic, their home is about 2.5 hours away from the farmette, but in Chicago you cannot count on good traffic. We hoped it would all somehow come together okay. I was to stay with their little Primrose until they came home from the hospital with the new addition. The due date is in the second half of December, but it is going to be a planned delivery, so we expected my coming to Chicago would be no later than today and that she would go into the hospital tomorrow.
All hell broke loose when last week Primrose was exposed to Covid from a teacher in her school. You can imagine the what ifs that flew. We quickly reformulated the plan. If Primrose were to fall ill, I would bring my older daughter to Chicago (she volunteered) and hang back at the sidelines. I dont know what their hospital return would have looked like, but they are great planners and so I'm sure there were options on the table.
So it was a question of testing and waiting. A week has passed, the girl did not develop Covid (would someone dare challenge the mask mandate to my face? Two of my younger grandkids had the highly transmissible variant of Covid in their masks-mandatory school room and both managed to avoid bringing it home and yes, I'm knocking on wood and thanking stars), so I've packed my bag and not too long after breakfast...
I head south.
(for the road!)
I am grateful for my new car. I have good driving weather, but still, it is cold, and the car lives in the great outdoors. I need it to have an "I'm tough!" attitude toward winter. So far so good.
Hello, young family, soon to be a family of four! Hello Primrose! What? You baked cookies with mom?
Hello, younger very big bellied daughter of mine...
Dinner with the young family...
Let me put away the camera for now. I'm sure it will get a work out in the days ahead. Tonight, let's just enjoy each others company and review the thousand and one details that always attend big disruptions in routines.
(Oh, here's a snapshot done by my girl! Their Christmas tree makes an appearance! As does Primrose, playing a game with me.)
And let's feel grateful for all that for once went right for everyone involved.
With love...
