January 7, 2015

I was up very early.  We were alone again as Brian spent the night with Olivia. Ingrid, however, slept through the whole night and in her own room. Still, despite the uninterrupted night,  I was up at seven, so I got up at 7:30.  I spent the morning picking up items and preparing to load the car once I got it back. Lupe showed up around 9 o'clock and I woke up the kids.  The repair shop called and said the car would be a little later than planned, so that threw a kink in my day.  When I finally was able to pick up the car, Ethan and I packed it fairly quickly, only to discover that Ethan couldn't find his bicycle lock anywhere.  This about drove me over the edge and I kept thinking "bite your tongue, bite your tongue" (Tatjana's  "my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die" would have been ideal, but at this point all I could conjure up as I was digging through a garage filled with stuff was "bite your tongue.").


Luck, however was on our side as Olivia texted to say she was nursing (we wouldn't of been allowed in, anyway), so I decided we would head to La Bodega to pick up our to- go food, but first, we had to say good-bye to Ingrid and Lupe.  Ingrid I knew we would see again, but Lupe?  Who knows when we would be back the next time. It was tough.  When I got to the restaurant, I saw Lupita, someone I haven't seen in quite some time.  We started talking and immediately both of our eyes filled with tears as we recalled my father, working together over a number of years, and many other emotional memories. We stood by the fountain talking, hugging, and wiping away the tears that streamed down our faces. My heart was breaking as this was truly goodbye.

We got to the hospital, and as we walked into the room I heard the cries of a newborn child.  My first thought was of Ryan.  Suddenly all the tears I had just finished with came back with a vengeance and I stood there with more tears streaming down my face. There was a good chance I was going to be dehydrated by the time 1 o'clock came around.  We stayed and talked with my sister... I watched her hold her son and then Maggie held him.   I didn't because of my cold and Ethan was afraid to.  Soon I knew it was time to go  and said so when Olivia looked at me and said, "Aren't you going to hug me goodbye?" I said I didn't want to give her my cold to which she replied she was the one who gave it to me.  As my arms went around her, I burst into tears again.  When you've lost your family and you get them again,  leaving so very difficult.   For the first time in my life,  I am understanding how important it is to be close with your family of origin.  We both wept, talked about our dad, the restaurant, the emotional pain.  Finally, we said goodbye, both of us crying.  Today has been the nail in the coffin of saying goodbye.

We headed out north, of town and I noticed how all the cotton fields were now replaced with oil derricks and pump jacks.  My golly, how things have changed.  Instead of cattle, there is horsepower roaming the fields.   Many talk about how there's nothing to see, but really... there is SO much to see!  I love this land.  It's a hard country.  The West Texans, the ones who lived out here awhile, are a tough people.  We headed through Andrews, which made me think of Kelly Sherman-Strickland, when I went out with her dad and her and she told me how she learned to drive a truck when she was 12.  The rest of the counties in Texas...my kids loving the smell of oil, but sadly being asleep through Denver City.  New Mexico and Tatum, and then Roswell;  the temperature was plummeting fairly quickly and pretty soon it was in the teens.  By the time we hit it US 285,  it started to get very difficult to see with foggy ice and sleet.  Pretty soon we noticed police lights and we were stuck behind an accident for quite some time.  Darkness was upon us and the road was slippery...I didn't drive faster than 40 MPH as we passed accident after accident.  Mags looked up the road conditions and saw that US 285 had been closed in both directions due to icy roads and the dangerous black ice, we were among the last ones let through...and still we saw drivers hauling ass past us.  These folks aren't from around here - don't realize how dangerous black ice can be.  One accident was of a trailer we had seen in Roswell who was in quite a hurry.  Guess they're at a stop now -

It took us quite a while but finally we arrived in Albuquerque at our hotel.  We unloaded a few things,

then the kids want to go swimming in the indoor pool.  We ordered a pizza,  which was delivered to our room. I gave the guy a $20 for a $15 pizza and told him to keep the change.  We closed the door.  10 seconds later,  he knocked on the door again and blurted out how he hadn't had many deliveries that day...we couldn't really understand what he was saying because of how quickly he was speaking...but I understand that he wants thanking me for the tip.  He mentioned me getting back the good karma and he was so grateful which made my day.  It was so wonderful to make such a small difference in someone's life.   I was really honored by that.  Now go to sleep.  Tomorrow  we carry-on hopefully the road conditions are better.   We hope to make it to Lone Pine, a 12 hours drive, but if not, we'll stop somewhere else.  This is our adventure,  after all.

 Pictures:  Master Abney Alois Schatz;  The first game was "Guess what color this gummy bear is?"; Metal works in Tatum, NM; The Roswell Testing Facility; The old Roswell Ice Company