like a fire

One full week in good Ole Alabama. The weather was great, the food was even better and the company was exactly what everyone experiences when you go back to your roots (That means some good times, some bad times and some times that you might have to pay a counselor to get past).

This trip was a bit unique in the way our lives played out. First we were stranded because our car was busted (busted is Alabama speak for broke down). We were stranded, part of the time, with eight kids in the house. Visions of mass chaos can come close to this. We had head colds also and several of us had the dreaded parasite - giardia. If you haven’t experienced this particular parasite, then imagine the worst smell that can come out of an anus and couple it with a bowel movement the consistency of a faucet and you getting close.

Having said all of that, it was a good trip. I got to see lots of people I hadn’t seen in too long. I ate Guthrie’s three times. But my favorite is the crisp air that filled my lungs as I walked along the hills of the Alley Valley. Words can’t express how I felt there and I am unashamed of the feelings of beauty that come from the south (Grant, go ahead and make fun).

So 1200 miles, three boxes with no slaw/extra fires/double sauce, one axle, and one brown painted car seat later, I am back to the home I call Orlando.

At least for a little while.