Letting things go...

Kids and I are on our "Mid-Winter Mini-Vacation". I had to work around having to pick up a Snowy Owl for Brad at Pokagon, and visiting my parents. So, we chose to stay in Marshall, Michigan, which is halfway in between. We got a "kids suite" so that there was plenty of room to sprawl out.

So Friday I get word that some friends, Tim and Samantha, are pulling through my town of residence, on their way to purchase a vehicle. We met up for lunch, and in that conversation, discussed the up-coming snow storm. They offered to caravan with me, if their schedule back matched up with my departure schedule. Things just sort of fell into place after that, and the next thing I knew, we were a 3 car caravan, hitting the highway. I was in the lead, Samantha was in her new trailblazer, and Tim was behind her, driving her old car. Things got bad very quickly. We were hitting the highway right as the storm was going through, and we were going to be traveling right along with it. Between the snow, the ice and the insane winds blowing us all over, it was slow moving to say the least. Somewhere just my side of Kalamazoo, I happened to look in the rear view mirror, just in time to see Sams new truck spin...and spin...and spin. I tried my best to pull over right away, the ice putting a bit of a damper on that plan. I finally managed to do so safely. Or as safely as "on the side of the highway in the middle of an ice patch, in the middle of Snowpocolypse 2012, can be. There were angels watching over us, and especially Sam, because she never left the roadway. We decided the safest thing to do is get off at the next exit, and give her time to catch her breathe, slow her heart rate, and decide what to do next. We chose the "stay off the highway" option, and it was a good one, because from news reports later, it only got worse as the highway went on. I carvaned with them all the way to their house, stopped by my parents to de-ice my headlights, and proceeded on to Marshall. What should have been a 2 hour drive, ended with 6 hours on the road. It was a LONG day.

Today the kids and I went to Angola and got the owl. We went to a few of our favorite locations, and then headed over to Battle Creek for dinner. I haven't had Mancinos in several years, and it's something we don't have back home, so I had a craving. The kids really enjoyed it too. After that we did a bit of shopping, and headed back to the hotel to swim, only to find out the pool was too full of chlorine to enjoy. So, we are back in the room, relaxing now.

I was supposed to meet up with a friend that I haven't seen in 7 years tonight. Due to situations out of my control, that didn't happen. I didn't really expect the wave of emotions that came along with these plans falling through. I'm sad, I'm disappointed. I realize there is nothing I can do about it, and I'm certainly not pouting about it, but it's almost like "mourning". I am forced to realize that my life has taken such a different path. Things have changed SO much since I have left. People that I could always count on to "be there" have moved on and developed different lives, no longer putting a second thought into my visiting. Moving to Indiana was a good decision for us, but I never expected to lose so many relationships along the way. I've developed a LOT of new relationships that are incredible, with some incredible people...but there are one or two that are just really hard to let go of, and tonight proved that to me. I guess it's time to do a little soul-searching within myself and figure out how to either A: redevelop these relationships, or B: learn to let them go. I just don't know which one I have the strength to do right now, as they are both going to test me.