Friday May 10 and Saturday May 11, 2024
Dear Diary,
I woke up at 7 am. I had slept well. I looked up some audiobooks to download for the drive. While they were downloading, I got up and brought in my vitamix. I made a smoothie with 7 bananas, homemade apple juice, homemade almond milk and a teaspoonful of cacao. I put the smoothie in a 64 oz. jar and placed it in the cooler. I woke Angel up, we got dressed and headed out. In the truck, Angel ate applesauce and the rest of her leftover pancake for breakfast. I drank part of my smoothie for breakfast and the other half for lunch.
On the drive, Angel played on her phone and I listened to one of the audiobooks I had downloaded. The audiobook was called The Girl Who Sang to the Buffalo by Kent Nerburn. It had looked like it would be something I would enjoy and I was right. It was fantastic and had me mesmerized. It was also 12 hours and 57 minutes long which was great. I could listen to it on the drive today and tomorrow. It was a 6.5 hour drive today to reach Claremore, Oklahoma. Tomorrow would be a 7.5 hour drive to reach home.
We drove straight through to Claremore, only stopping for fuel and bathroom breaks. We crossed the Oklahoma border midday and arrived at Angel’s grandmas in Claremore at 3pm. Bits was so happy to be out of the truck that he ran all around at full speed for at least 10 minutes or more. It was great to see Angels grandma StJohn whose first name is Carolyn (she’s my ex’s mom and Angels paternal grandma). I greeted her with a hug. Angel hadn’t seen her in a couple of years and was shy at first. It didn’t take long for Angel to warm up to her grandma though, especially when she got to watch My Little Pony on TV. While Angel watched TV, Carolyn and I had a heart filled conversation. She is such a wonderful person.
When it time for dinner. Carolyn made Angel waffles in a new Mickey Mouse waffle maker she had bought for her. She also bought Angel a unicorn coloring book. When everyone finished eating, we all played fetch with Bits. He was having so much fun, it was contagious. We laughed and took turns throwing his toy for him to fetch.
Angel went back to watching My Little Pony while I looked up my family tree on my phone. I was researching my maternal grandmas history. I know that my grandma was born on Duck Valley Indian reservation and she had claimed to be half Shoshone Indian but I haven’t been able to find proof of that. I know she was fostered or adopted but I can’t find proof of that either. She passed away in 1999 and her siblings have all passed too, so there is no one to ask that would know for sure. My oldest son has had a DNA test done and he said it showed no Native American. I’ve read that a lot of times the DNA tests won’t show any Native American because there’s not enough differences that can distinguish the Native American race. My sister Trish and I are really interested in finding out about my grandmas history but we might have to be content with not knowing.
At bedtime, Angel took a bath and I got in after she got out. Carolyn made up the couch really nice for me to sleep on. Angel slept with her grandma and we all went to bed at around 9:30 pm.
Saturday May 11, 2024
I woke up at 6:30 am and immediately started writing my blog. Carolyn got up at 7 am and we chatted. I continued writing in between pauses in our conversations. I didn’t want to get too far behind on my blog and I was already one day behind. I had written some of my blog last night and I was determined to finish writing Thursday’s entry this morning. At 7:45 am, I finished it. I read my blog post out loud to Carolyn so I could edit it. Then I uploaded pictures and posted it. Angel got up and Carolyn made her waffles again. I fed Bits, made tea and a smoothie. Then I packed everything in the truck. We said our goodbyes to Carolyn and I thanked her for being so accommodating. She had given me a Mother’s Day card and I hadn’t gotten anything for her for Mother’s Day. When I was packing the last of our stuff in the truck, I came across the sagebrush smudges I’d made while staying at my sister. I did have a gift to give after all and gave a sagebrush smudge to Carolyn as her Mother’s Day gift.
We were on the road at 9 am. I stopped to fill up on gas and buy ice on our way out of town. I listened to my audiobook The Girl Who Sang to the Buffalo on the drive and Angel played on her phone. Just when I was at a really good part in the book Angel paused it and said she wanted to tell me about a dream she once had. I said ok and Angel began telling me her dream. I think the story originally started out as a dream but it went on for a long long time and it was obvious she was continuing on way past what she had dreamed. I was amazed at how well she could instantly think up what would happen next while telling the story. After 2 hours of listening to Angel tell the story, I was beginning to think it would never have an ending. I suggested she wrap the story up and a half hour later it finally came to the end. It was a happy ending.
We had crossed the Texas state line while Angel was telling her story but somehow I missed the Texas sign so I didn’t get a picture of it. Now that Angel’s story was completed, I began listening to my audiobook again. When we got close to Dallas, of course we ended up in a traffic jam. The gps wasn’t very helpful on showing me other routes so I got off the interstate and started taking side roads in the direction towards home. I was hoping by doing that the gps would reroute me around the traffic jam and that is exactly what happened.
While weaving my way through Dallas Angel said she was hungry and wanted spaghetti. I attempted to verbally cue to gps to add a stop at an Italian restaurant but that wasn’t working out. I stopped for gas and just wanted to get out of Dallas without searching for a restaurant. I told Angel she would have to make do with whatever we could find in the gas station. She got an ice cream cone and I didn’t protest, I was too road weary to fuss with nutrition and such.
I was really glad when we finally got out of Dallas. Ugghhh…big city traffic is intense. Every single time I drive through Dallas, traffic comes to a dead stop, at least once. Thankfully, Dallas was the only big city I’d had to drive through on my trip home. I’d bypasses Salt Lake City and Denver but neither of those has traffic like Dallas. Dallas’ traffic is horrible.
The rest of the drive home, I was feeling road weary. Dallas had really zapped my energy. Angel became interested in the reading the signs in the small towns we drove through. I was all for that. I always perk up whenever she shows an interest in reading stuff. She liked that she could easily read words such as “motel” and “gas”. I helped her sound out the harder words and pointed out how to know a towns name by seeing it on a sign when you enter the town.
At 5 pm we arrived home. Bits started freaking out 5 miles before we arrived because he could tell we were almost home. He must have recognized the land marks out the window. We were greeted at the gate by all the dogs. Little Bit about burst with excitement and all the dogs ran around yipping and barking. It was quite the homecoming welcome. Angel ran up the driveway with her dog LacyJane and I followed behind with Healer and Jake in the truck with Bits.
Christopher was waiting for us out in front of the house. I got out and we hugged. I used the bathroom while Christopher unloaded the truck. Then I walked around greeting all the animals and plants. The mulberry tree was still full of mulberries and my garden was an amazing jungle of thriving plants. Christopher had dinner ready and I ate a yummy salad. While we ate, I told Christopher about the audiobook I was listening to. Angel finished eating and got in the bath that Christopher had ready. Christopher and I talked for quite a while, then I joined Angel in the bath. Angel stayed in the bath after I got out. I wrote out my schedule for next week on the calendar and talked with Christopher some more.
Angel finally got out of the bath and Christopher took a shower. Then we all gathered in the banana hut. I read one chapter from Stormy, Misty’s Foal and went to bed. Christopher and Angel went in the house and I fell asleep at around 8:30 pm.
Thank you for reading my blog and being a part of my life. I dearly appreciate you.
Love,
Victoria
P. S. This blog post was inspired by the Holy Spirit.