The Trip

Once again our family made the 1000 mile trip to Louisiana to visit my wife’s family. For one that suffers from WCSS this is always a daunting task. It is 1000 miles of could and most probably will go wrong. However, the things that do go wrong are never what you expect. Last year for instance, I imagined all of us veering off the bridge that goes over Lake Pontchartrain and being trapped underwater for hours. Yet that didn’t happen, much to my surprise. Instead, we spent about 4 hours in an emergency room somewhere in Alabama with a two-year-old who had strep-throat. At that time I didn’t know which was worse. Now I do…

This year everyone was healthy and it was an awesome visit. In Louisiana they celebrate New Year’s Day a bit different than here in Ohio. They celebrate with lots and lots of fireworks. I soaked all my clothes in Asbestos, put on my goggles and was ready to light up the night. I think we burned up close to $500 dollars worth of fireworks (of course that is street value with 99% mark-up).

It was a really great trip but I do want to comment on a few things. First, I don’t know why folks in Louisiana don’t like little kids. On the first day we were there the neighbor came to the house and brought a “gift”. She said that she was out in her garage and heard all the kids (7 – three are mine!) playing and thought they might like to see “this”. The this was a Black Widow spider in a glass peanut butter jar. The in-laws have concrete floors, yeah you get the picture, now your a WCSS sufferer too. What was she thinking? Merry Christmas, sorry I didn’t put a bow on it but here’s your gift! A few days later we went to Mass at a Benedictine Abbey on the January 1st. Some of the folks behind our group refused to shake hands and commented about there being too many kids at Mass. Yeah, too many kids at Mass on the the Feast of Mary the MOTHER OF GOD!!!

We had fun and really enjoyed our visit. Great food, friends, and family. I drove straight back in 16.5 hours. (new record). On the way back as we drove through Alabama I saw a great sign that I thought I’d share and leave you to muse over. The sign was this –

Happy New Year Y’all!!!