Snow Traveling…

Travel is a funny thing. It’s exciting, sometimes a little scary, exhilarating, and exhausting. Every person has a story and sometimes those stories need to be told.

Many of you know I came to Washington the first of December while my husband continued in Michigan working on our cabin. After a year of traveling together in a 29′ trailer, 24/7, let’s just say it was a welcome break for both of us. At that point, things had been said that shouldn’t, a whole lot of head shaking, eye rolling, shoulder shrugging, and “whatever” got tossed around…and that was just me. So I hopped on a plan and let out a sigh of relief that I would soon be in Lynnwood, WA with my daughter, granddaughters, and other family members. My flight was great, and I mean great…it was on time, the comfort was there, the turbulence were few…just a great trip all around.

Over the next two months, Dan has, in frigid snow and cold, been building our cabin. He has the plans in his head and has only asked for his brother’s help on two occasions. The rest has been mastered with only his two hands. This is a two story cabin so it is 25′ high. It is 24′ by 26′ – and he knows exactly what he wants it to look like. He has been out there in -25 degrees, “finger biting cold” as he calls it, and with snow and ice trying to hinder the progress he just kept getting tougher and more determined. Must be the farm boy in him, but it wasn’t a place for me. so I was glad to get out of there.

Skip forward to February when my husband decides to come to my daughters. His trip was, on the other hand, not so great. I was anxious enough about him coming because it was going to be a “do or die” for our marriage…yes, the struggles had increased enough to put us in a bad place. I was so anxious in fact that it took all my effort not to tell him NOT to come. But we started talking out our issues and reminding each other why we married the other, and soon the anxiety eased up. I started getting a bit happy about him coming.

Let me interject here that being here with my daughter, granddaughters, friends, and family is like wrapping a warm blanket of comfort around me. It’s my safe place, the most welcoming place in the world. Staying at my daughters’ home is as natural as breathing. We all understand each other’s needs and live life with an ease that is as smooth as butter. When I got here, damaged and broken, I doubted I’d ever leave again. My husband had damaged us, and I knew what damage I’d done to my husband and I really wasn’t sure if it was repairable. But marriage means a lot to me, and though I was currently enjoying living my life at my daughters exactly like I thought life should be, I knew it was time to face the music and see what would come out of my husband and I being in the same room again. Would I even want to make good on my marriage or give up? And I really hate being a quitter.

The plan was for Dan to fly out of Green Bay, Wisconsin on Thursday, Feb. 7th. His sister and brother-in-law drove him from Escanaba on Wednesday (it’s a 5hr round trip), so they wouldn’t get stuck in the upcoming storm. Dan settled into his hotel room knowing his flight was before noon the next day. That next morning he got to the airport and the flight was quickly bumped out two hours…not so bad, he’d still make his connecting flight. Then it got bumped out again, and now the connecting flight wasn’t going to be there when he made it to Minneapolis…so he’d have to work that out when he got there. Next thing he knew the entire flight has been changed, and now he would get into Seattle at 8 PM, instead of 4 PM. All doable, right? Oops, nope, the flight was just canceled. So back to the hotel he goes. Now, mind you, the alerts are coming to me by email and text, so I’m keeping him informed as the activity goes on, when he’s not at the airport.

Friday at 2:30 AM I get a text that his 11:45 AM flight has been bumped to 2:30 PM already. So, I sent him a text letting him know not to rush to the airport. Needless to say, his flight was eventually canceled and he was put on another flight, got to Minneapolis and we held our breath that he would get on the connecting flight just fine…which he did. Now he is expected to land in Seattle at 8:15 PM, but Seattle is experiencing a snow storm like none other, so we weren’t even sure he would land. Landed successfully…but the storm is so bad, I’m not about to drive to the airport 45 minutes away by freeway to get him…so Kristin ordered him an Uber and at 10:30 PM I finally saw him walking through the snow up the drive.

It was like seeing an old lost friend after years of separation. Something filled me up and made me whole again…it’s a thing called love. We have a lot to work on patching up our marriage and making it whole again, but when you have someone that is willing to go to the ends of the earth for you in a “Planes, Trains, and Automobile” fashion, well, it’s is worth the work.

There are likely other stories that have many other reasons, reactions, and results, but this is our story, and when all is said and done, we are safe, we are loved, we are blessed, and we are thankful. This is a winter to remember, or forget…it’s your choice, but it has been one heck of a winter for sure. When Spring shows her beauty we will all sigh that bit of relief and move on with our day…until then bundle up, be sure you have emergency lights, food, and water because winter is still showing her style.

As always, thank you for reading my ramblings…love to all.