So I'm back in Savannah; I missed all of the snow at home, and of course won't see any here in the south. But what I have seen plenty of is my cousin Tiffany, who lives two hours south in Kingsland, Georgia. Last weekend I stayed at her place in Kingsland, and this weekend we went up to Raleigh, North Carolina together to visit with her older sister Tina and to do some wedding shopping for Tiffany's up-coming wedding.
I've made this exact same trip once before, driving straight from Savannah, through South Carolina, up into Fuquay-Varina to visit with my aunt and uncle. The previous trip was almost exactly ten years ago. We drove up, spent the weekend with our family, and then drove back down to Savannah where we spent the night before heading south to Florida.
I was 13 when we made that first trip; my parents would have been on the brink of 40, dealing with a 13 year old and a 10 year old in the backseat...kids who undoubtedly got bored and probably spent plenty of time fighting and being obnoxious. I'll be honest; Andrew and I still do plenty of that these days. But somehow, my parents survived that trip. Here I am, 10 years later and still considerably younger than my parents were, traveling without any children, and it was a miserable drive. I have to sympathize with my parents. Of course, on that first drive up, the entire family was entirely amused by the South of the Border billboards which populate the side of the freeway for the entire state of South Carolina. Driving up from the south means you see all of the billboards before finally reaching the hoaky tourist attraction at the border dividing the Carolinas. This time around, I was just as amused by the billboards, but nobody else in my car seemed to care. Oh well.
The visit was a busy one, with errand running galore, stress levels skyrocketing (especially the poor bride, who is trying to plan said wedding while her man is out to sea...not just out to sea, but rather, under the sea on a submarine), and not nearly enough sleep across the board. But it was successful, as we accomplished quite a lot, acquired some good deals, and got to spend some time together. I even somehow managed to find time to get some homework done. The three of us might not get together again until the wedding in May, but it was a good time had by all. It may have also further cemented my belief that Simpson women are crazy and terrifying.
