Should I Stay or Should I Go?

My heavy load of classes ends with finals this week. I have to turn in my grades and then Grace would like me to drive up to spend the weekend with her.
I can do that. I have the time, the transportation and even a little extra money to spend on hotels and gas.
Some people who have sent kids away to college say it is too soon. They say it will only make her more homesick if I go visit.
Next week will make three weeks since we left her in her dorm room.
Earl and I are going up to visit her the first weekend of October for family weekend, but that will be full of scheduled receptions and performances. It won't be down time, just hanging out with Grace.
Because I know her pretty well, I figure she is missing down time. She hasn't shared a room with anyone for this long except our French student Marie who came last summer. She would like to read a book and flip through mindless television channels.
And, of course, she'd like me to be there to take care of any decisions that have to be made, to remove that mantle from her shoulders for just a weekend.
When it comes time to say goodbye though, will there be tears and clinging?
What do you think? Should I stay or should I go?

Family Road Trip

On Thursday, I began to have an inkling. On Friday, I was certain. Looming before us was a Saturday with no plans whatsover. No swimming, no basketball, no track, no concerts, no work. My entire family was unscheduled on Saturday. (Well, except for me. I had my weekly run with my friends, but we pushed it back to 5:30 a.m. and only ran for an hour.)
Some people may take the opportunity of an unscheduled day to spend it sleeping in then lolling about for the whole day. Others might organize a spring cleaning day. For me, I decided on a family road trip.
My grandmother lives four hours away in southern Kentucky. She's 92 years old and has out lived two husbands. She has a pacemaker and until a few weeks ago, she was caring for an aunt who is in a wheelchair. When they moved the aunt out, I knew that it was true, my grandmother, who I call Nana, is starting to slow down. Taking care of other people has been her life so if she decides she can't take care of other people, that is serious.
So following a winter where she slipped on the ice and broke a vertebrae and a spell a few weeks ago where she had a small stroke, but drove herself to the doctor because she didn't want to bother those nice ambulance drivers, I decided it was time for my whole family to pay her a visit.
Grace and I had seen her in April when we drove to Florida and back. Nana mentioned that she wouldn't even recognize my boys because she hadn't seen them for so long. I thought that might be true. So we left the house about 7:45 with chocolate milks and little powdered donuts to lure the teenagers to the car.
We listened to the first CD of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe trying to retrieve that old Narnia magic on a car road trip. Then we turned to telling stories and playing 20 questions. Finally, we fell back on Harry Potter story CDs. Harry Potter with the soothing voice of Jim Dale has gotten us through every car trip in the past 10 years.
We surprised Nana because I didn't want her trying to prepare food and wearing herself out. She was delighted to see us, even if she kept calling Spencer and Tucker by the wrong name.
And, although our day was unscheduled, my cousin Mike, who lives nearby, has a family that is always scheduled. He and his wife Melinda (one of the best additions to our family) had a funeral to go to and their college-aged children had a wedding to go to, but they still made time to visit us at Nana's house.
My kids and his kids used to spend hours playing dress up and exploring the gorge and cave over the cliff from Nana's house. They'd gather weeds and berries and make potions. They were imaginative and daring, playing Little House on the Prairie. So it was good to have a reunion, even though no one played dress up, except Morgan who needed to change from her funeral dress to one appropriate to celebrate a sorority sister's wedding.
Then my Uncle Wil came by to borrow some pruning sheers, having misplaced two pairs of his own. It was practically a family reunion.
I patted Nana's arm before we left and implored her to take care of herself.
"Honey, that's all I have to do now," she said.
And I wondered whether that means she is giving up just a little. She has always had someone else to take care of. She seemed well, just admitted to getting dizzy if she stands or walks too much. So she has slowed down a lot.
As the afternoon grew long, we piled into the car to drive back to Ohio and allow the kids to scatter with their friends. They took car pictures and slept.

Then listened to some more Harry Potter as we reached Columbus before the sun had gone down.
No one complained about a day spent appeasing mom. No one even fought about summer jobs or swim team practices. And Earl's tool bag, which he'd taken along just in case Nana needed some work done, remained in the car.

Girl Road Trip

It's not the kind of Girls Gone Wild spring break that some might imagine, but our trip to Florida ended up being all girls. It was supposed to be a family vacation, but Spencer had a basketball tournament and Tucker had track practice so Earl "volunteered" to stay home with them. Grace then asked if she could bring a friend. So Sarah, Grace and I drove to my parents' home in Florida.
It started out dreary and rainy. As we drove through Cincinnati, the rain and clouds were so thick we couldn't see the next bridge over the Ohio River. We spent the night at my grandmother's in Kentucky and then left at 5 a.m. the following morning to drive to my parents' house. We listened to The Lost Symbol on tape and stopped at the perfect restaurant with a Dairy Queen and a Subway, but a college bus had beaten us to it. We ended up driving through a Burger King, which I wouldn't recommend. Then we made another stop at a gas station. While I filled up, the girls went in to use the bathroom, then came back and said it was all truckers and hookers.
"They were sending us upstairs to use the bathroom," Grace said. "Creepy."
Of course, Sarah was half way up the stairs before Grace called her back.
Thirteen hours after we left, with few traffic problems and beautiful sunshine the entire day, we arrived to burgers on the grill.
The girls were quick to hop in the pool. They have plans to meet a friend at St. Pete beach sometime this week and want to go hiking and bike riding at the state park nearby. Meanwhile, it's just nice to be in the warm weather, to go for a run with the weather at 60 instead of 30, to let my hair curl because the humidity is too high to straighten it.