A Road Trip for Family- We've Come a Long Way!!!

Two weeks ago, my dad and I went on a road trip. I do road trips everyday for work- driving 3-4 hours to a meeting then 3-4 hours home but this one was different for several reasons. The first reason is it was 12 hours to our destination, second, my dad came with me and third, we were headed to my cousin's wedding.

I had a few revelations and memories come and go as we traveled to and from San Antonio. First, I think I like traveling the interstate in Texas. The speed limit is 80 mph and even though it's 75 here and I travel 80, in Texas I still traveled at 80. Second, in all those miles I only saw and passed one Toyota Prius, Texas must have a law against them and Arizona should maybe consider getting one (Sorry if I just offended you but they drive me crazy going 75 in the fast lane on the freeway between Phoenix and Tucson or Phoenix and Yuma and they never get over). Third, Texas has signs on the freeway that say the left lane is for passing only and people actually go along with it. Makes the traffic move much more smoothly. Although I do think (at least from El Paso to Ft. Stockton) Arizona might have some better scenery and it's much easier to get on the freeways and up to speed in Arizona. Overall the actual travel wasn't bad. It was a fast trip- left on a Wednesday morning and came home on a Friday night but we saw family, met new friends and family and saw the sites!

At the wedding it was mostly my cousin Ivan's (They call him Foster) friends and his new wife's family but we Fosters represented. There was his dad and step mother, sister, my dad and me! It was funny the last time I saw him was probably 13-15 years ago and he was in high school and he was this awkward, gangling all arms and legs and a ton of crazy curly hair. When he walked into the wedding location he had grown into a tall, strong, big man with a deep voice shook everyone's hand and slapped backs like he was campaigning  I think that is something our generation does that maybe our parent's generation didn't do. Any although I was out of my element and didn't really know anyone I felt very proud of who he had become based on what others said and how they respected him and his new bride. Which by the way I think he brought up the class in the family with her. She's so nice and will do him and all of us good.

 

So enough about the gushy stuff. We had an opportunity to congratulate the bride and groom and tell a story. I didn't have anything at the wedding and I was a little emotional but I thought of many stories on my 14 hour drive home.

Like when we were little and we would make taffy at Christmas. Each kid would get some to pull and we would wash our hands, butter them up and then start pulling the taffy so it would harden before putting it on the trays to cool before being cut up. Then we would divide up the taffy between all of us. But Ivan got all of his because he could never get his hands completely clean so his taffy always looked grey... but maybe that's just added protein and fiber!

Also he is very creative. Even as a kid, I still have the arrowhead me made out of obsidian glass. Every time I see that in my jewelry box I think of him. But he was also funny. I think I am one the funniest people I know but he's funnier. When he was a little kid he once crawled up on my dad's shoulder and sat there on the couch. When my dad asked him what he was doing, Ivan replied without missing a beat "I'm a frog sitting on a lily pad." Dad still laughs at that.

I also thought of when we were kids and his mom (who's really short) would borrow our truck to go to town (before seat belts were required) and load all the kids and sometimes my mom and I. She couldn't reach the pedals without scooting forward because the seat had been bolted down for my Dad's 6'2" frame so she would put a cinder block behind her and Ivan would ride on that sitting behind her. People that would meet the truck on the road saw a two headed person driving the truck!

But mostly I remembered how small Ivan was a kid and how he was the first baby I ever saw at the hospital. He had been born and so they took him and his mom around to a full length window so we could look in and see him for the first time. He was so small and as he grew up he was still small- all legs and no meat on his bones. He used to get sick every winter and when the power would go out his parents would bring him over in the early morning and stick him in my parents bed to keep him warm. Their house at the time was solely heated by power and we had wood heat so even if there wasn't power we would have a warm house.

But at the end of the wedding and as we neared home. I realized something that might sound egotistical or snobbish but I think the three of us cousins that grew up together- with knock-down fights and games and memories did pretty darn good for our lives. All three of us have become successful, productive members of society and have come along way from being the poor kids on the creek that sometimes received Christmas presents and food boxes from charity groups to people who have earned Airborne wings, Master degrees, own businesses, work in programs producing thousands of dollars, have married, had kids and still take care of our dads because we love them and except them for who they are and we are never too proud to tell people where we came from. But I think we could have never been as successful as we are if it wasn't for our parents and grandparents believing in us and letting us work hard for what we have and to know the difference in value between things and people.