Pre-Thanksgiving

Travel went smoothly.

I listened to Choke on the way home, departing drastically from my usual happy stories read by a lovely woman with some British accent. Instead, Chuck Palahniuk read me his story that was gritty and dark and filled with emotionless sex and illnesses of all sorts. The man can write though and as I listened and thought through the plot lines, I wondered why we read, why we write, why we live. Instead of a happy distraction, which is all I really expect from an audiobook, I felt dragged to thoughts of addiction and sex and history and spirituality.

The three of us - for I did capture poor Sprout and carried him to the car when he wailed against his defeat then buried his head in my elbow - arrived at my parents' house yesterday afternoon and we were welcomed by Mom. We talked and looked at the presents I carted home. Dad arrived to a joyful dog who missed him terribly while he was gone and we went out for dinner. A sweet nursing student waited on us and intruded only briefly on our conversation while we caught up. Now that Mom's back at work, she has stories. Dad has his list of complaints and I have updates as well.

The drive was pretty. The interstate rises and falls and curves through wooded areas at the beginning of my trip. Leaves continued to cling brightly to branches in various shades of red. Some were nearly brown, others were vibrant, and the remainder contained shades of orange as yellow struggled to attain the vibrant shades of crimson their neighbors displayed. The landscape flattened and forests were replaced with farms as we moved closer to our destination. This morning is perfect as well. Dad left early for work and I padded down the hall to talk to Mom before she drove away too. She opened the doors that lead to the back patio and slid the screen closed so we could listen to the rain. There is a metal roof over the oversized porch out back and it's the only place that the rain sounds absolutely perfect to me. Perhaps my next house can have a back patio with a metal roof. Or it can be closer to my parents' house so I can use theirs more often.

Chienne has gone back to sleep. Sprout is busy running up and down the halls, sprinting down the stairs to the basement to explore. Brother has the day off today and Mom wants us to have lunch together. I like Brother - most times, anyway - so I hope that happens. Otherwise, there's work to do and naps to take. We'll go to Aunt's tomorrow for too much food and perhaps do a tiny bit of shopping this weekend. (NOT on Friday morning though.) As wonderful as it felt to be in my space this weekend - doing work and enjoying the quiet - it feels equally good to be home.