Misty Goodbyes

I-290 Crash

I knew yesterday was going to be tough going in based on the requirement to say goodbye to the last vestiges of family visiting for the holiday.  The day got off to a surreal start when I received calls from work about the need to deploy our ambulance bus.  Some early morning ice had caused a major accident involving over 60 vehicles in the middle of Worcester.  I looked outside to see everything coated.  When I turned on the news there were also accounts of a fatal train derailment on the same train system my daughter and son in law would be riding home that night.

Kind of Spooky Seeing the Trains My Daughter Rides So Often off Track

As I said surreal; but it did spark an instant of hope that this might delay my daughter’s departure.  That was not to be as the accident was on another line of the same system but you get an idea of where my mind was at. Anything to delay the emptying of the nest again.

With the ice coating I thought I would at least get out of church attendance.  I am probably the world’s worst catholic but the Big Guy balanced that out by marrying me off to possibly the world’s best one.  She who refuses to venture outside with the mere mention of ice firmly declared we had to go to church, opining that I needed it.  She knows me well.

Son In Law Braving the Heights

We survived the trip and returned to the crowning of the Christmas tree, honors to the son in law this year.  He didn’t seem to embrace this singular honor, something about the height and having to lean from the top of a rickety step ladder but he accomplished the task with aplomb. 

Well Done Lads!

We all settled down to watch the Patriots’ game together.  It is so much more fun to watch the game with these guys – we’re talking cosmic level difference here.  The Patriots pulled another first half disappearing act before roaring back to win.  There were high fives aplenty when the defense, in a major surprise, sealed the game.  It was a workmanlike effort against a bad team but the kind of game the good teams win, even when their defense is held together with duct tape and glue.

Daughter and her Great Friend Unloading at New haven

The end of the game was a harbinger of the dreaded event.  Not only did I have to say goodbye to the last of the visitors but I had three hours of driving through the teeth of holiday traffic in the traffic maelstrom that is Connecticut.  Connecticut continued on its best behavior in years with an immense amount of traffic wending thorough the misty rain but for the most part still moving.  I did run into those perpetual agents of chaos, cars placarded with New Jersey plates who believe it is their God given right to drive in the left lane at only the speed limit.  While I remain steadfastly amazed at the temerity of their actions they are returning to life in the “Garden State” so they deserve some slack.  This was followed with some really tough goodbyes at the New Haven train station for my New York City bound progeny.

Blurred Son in Law Saying Goodbye

Other than the immense amount of cars on the road the ride back north was fairly uneventful (New Jersey drivers were all heading south) until we reached the People’s Republic of Massachusetts.  In what has become a holiday tradition I-84 was backed up into Connecticut (10 miles) from the Mass Turnpike.  Luckily we were close enough to home that I was able to get off the highway and use some back roads to get home.  I looked over several times to see the nearby traffic jam on the highway and remembered the times I had been forced to sit in like traffic trying to get back to a far flung military home from Thanksgiving.  Ahh, the memories!

Sadness Ensues

So the nest is empty once again.  It’s almost unfair to fill the house again for a short period.  It was so much fun to have a full house with competition for food, attention, and a place in the conversation.  I wouldn’t have traded the time for the world.