That was an interesting trip ‘home.’ I went down to Tidewater this weekend to see my parents, and my grandparents, and help my brother and his family move their stuff out of their old apartment. Oh, and pick up Mom & Dad’s Cooper Mini to drive back to DC ‘on loan’ from the parental units.
The parents were chipper (though I despair of Mom’s occasional racist outburst - they’re couched in code, but I know what they are. Ugh). My brother was doing much better. At one point I rubbed his fuzzy little head (he’d shaved his head before the latest bout of madness - a sure sign he’s about to go over the deep end - and it’s just growing back) and told him I’d never be able to take him to a bear bar because they’d just keep rubbing the fuzz there. Thankfully he’s quite cool with the queer thing, and wouldn’t freak out at it.
Did not see the oldest niece, but did see the younger two. The youngest was much, much more animated than the last time I was down, which was right after she’d had some eye surgery. The middle one is a trip and a half. Will babble like crazy at you, making no sense (that we can tell), but as long as you are attentive, she’s happy. Must be nice to be 19 months old that way.
The grandparents were, well, a bit sad to see. Granddaddy has terrible balance now, and is starting to lose his hearing. Grandmother’s balance is better, but still a trifle shaky. And thank heavens I’m thin or I’d have been hearing ‘fat’ comments all afternoon like my brother got an earful of. But not within Mom’s earshot - she’s let her father know she does not appreciate such comments and that he needs to quit it, in no uncertain terms. Saw many recent pictures of cousins and their kids, and was greatly saddened that they all seem to be, well, fat. Or at least on the pudgy side of average. One aunt is just plain morbidly obese. Oy. And the family wonders why I do triathlons.
Oh, and in among the pictures was one of the president and first lady. Evidently the grandparents sent his campaign money. I still wore my earrings down there, though.
And appropos of nothing, there was absolutely no cell signal to be had down there. I started feeling like the little geek god from American Gods when they were in the nowhere place.
Traded in my DS for a DS Lite while down there (among other spending) and gave the DS to Dad. He’s had this Brain Age game for a bit, and could only use it when the eldest niece came over with her DS, so now he’s good to go. He also got some vision training game for it when I was getting the Lite (or, rather, I got it for him, though he picked it out). The reviews were right - the Lite’s screen is much nicer, though I’m not completely sold on the feel of the thing yet. The rumble pack sticks out of the front of the Lite, where it was completely inside the DS, and it’s not as comfortable to hold the sides while playing Metroid Prime Pinball as it was on the DS. I suppose I’ll get used to it.
I always forget how much driving is involved with being down there. Driving to stores, driving to restaurants, driving to grocery shopping, etc. I’m so spoiled here in DC, with a bus and rail system that, for all its faults, is pretty good at getting me (and others) around.
The drive back was uneventful. The mini’s a manual transmission, but does have cruise control, so most of the trip was spent with that on. Unlike driving back on a Sunday, traffic was pretty light, and I was able to actually spend most of the trip in the right lane, cruising along without being in other cars’ way, and vice versa. Only when we got into Richmond proper, and on the approach to DC, did I really have to take off the cruise control and dodge folks.
It’s going to be interesting having a car at my disposal again. I have an assigned parking space in one of our lots, so it’s off the street, and I’m supposed to pick up a cover from friends soon so I can keep it cleaner. It does have South Dakota tags, but the handicapped tags (Mom qualifies) were not in yet, so Dad’s going to send them to me later to switch out the plates. Shouldn’t run into problems with DC fussing at me for not registering the car here since it’ll be off-street and so not in the regular view of parking enforcement types. There are a couple maintenance issues which will crop up soon, two things that are going to need replacing/repairing, for which I have estimates, but which are not immediately needed. Otherwise everything which needed to be done to it has been repaired by Dad in anticipation of the trip to DC. Oh, and Dad prefers to put premium gas in it, so there’s that expense as well. But at 30 or so miles to the gallon, that’s not overly burdensome I suppose.
So it’s a mixed blessing, as most cars are. But I’m glad to have it.