Saturday, June 30, 2007
The family (minus Julie), at an Elks Club Lodge somewhere in Wisconsin, for a wedding. I have over 40 cousins and I can't make it to all the weddings, so I pretty much stopped going to all of them. But Sherry and Allie were going to drive up from Chicago together (Mom and Dad flew straight there) and I thought it would be fun to go with them.
An hour into the drive, though, behind the wheel, still stuck in Chicago traffic, with everyone listening to their separate ipods, I wasn't so sure. I sort of felt like a sitcom dad on a family trip. One that doesn't understand why everyone isn't overflowing with good old-fashioned family togetherness. One that gets cranky himself, as his ass goes numb and his back gets sore, and no one understands his 1950's Dad burdens.
Luckily, earbuds eventually came out of ears and we talked, going over the usual old stories. Laughing about old family trips and old family fights. Talking about changes and "isn't it weird that"s. "Isn't it weird that Holden is dead." "Isn't it weird that we'll probably never go into Grandma Anne's farm house again." "Isn't it weird that we're older."
It was nice. Totally worth waiting in traffic for.
Dad: The woman said, "We only have one seat left." I couldn't believe it. I said, "You've got to be kidding me. We've got tickets."
They did get on the flight, and got to Wisconsin only about an hour late. But their luggage was missing.
Mom: I almost thought we were going to have to go to the wedding in shorts.
Dad: Good thing we packed our wedding clothes in the carry-on.
Mom: We are never flying United again, I'll tell you that.
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