the drive home was longer…we stopped more…less excited than on the way up…hungry at weird times…but we did have a smooth trip…sweets again (starting with donuts from markham)…a stop at the world’s largest covered wagon (as we drove through the town looking for it, we stopped to ask someone we hoped was a local…yes, he was from that town…but he looked stumped when we asked where the big covered wagon was…it took a moment…he remembered)…the kids watched a slideshow of photos from our trip…there was a brief spill from the clouds…flowers picked at a stop…the kids sorted their souvenier train tickets (opa asked if we could keep our own and the conductor gave us his entire stack!)…fights between the two oldest kids with eliza saying, “yeah, guys…stop….yeah, guys…yeah”…a little stomach turning as we thought of the work that waited for us…and then as the sun was setting we hit construction on the two lane highway about an hour from home.

the car stopped and i was stunned by the quiet…
i felt surprisingly home…
on the road that cuts through the land that jerry used to help farm as a child…
in the state of my children’s birth…
back to the place where my parents brought me more than 20 years ago…
oh, hearts full and memories clear…a precious time.