Sullivan Sound Off: Finally Home and Very Tired!

Mom and I headed to South Carolina Friday afternoon. I went into the office for a few hours, then went to the grocery store to get my family's meals for the next few days, then went home to pack. Thankfully, my wonderful husband stayed up late Thursday night washing clothes for me to take with me! I am so glad he doesn't mind my taking off and leaving him to take care of everyone. I am very lucky for that! And very lucky to have such a compassionate, understanding daughter. Bryson had plans this weekend and had to change them because I had to leave and Steve had to work. She didn't even fuss one time! I love that girl! Mom and I drove a little past Asheville, NC and stopped for the night. We got up Saturday morning and headed on to Florence. Travis got in about 20 minutes after we did, so we all met our friends from Beaufort, Ken and Ken at the Red Bone Alley in Florence. It was such a neat place and the food was YUMMY! We had a nice visit with them, then headed over to Lucinda's house. It was so nice to see where Uncle Mark lived and meet his family members that I had never met. I had met Lucinda before, but no one else. And of course see his dog Sam! Uncle Mark loved that dog! It was great to meet everyone and put faces to the names I had heard so often. Of course no one knew who "Heather" was! But they sure knew who Boogies was! Thanks Uncle Mark! Fantacy and Chloe came in a little later and met us at the house. We had a nice time with everyone. They all had their own Mark stories! We shared a lot of laughs! Of course I was known as the niece who Mark talked to all the time! When I first had Dusty, I stayed at home and didn't work. Mark had just had his stroke, so he was pretty much homebound, so we talked on the phone all the time! This was before either one of us had cell phones, so Lucinda would buy him phone cards and they sent me phone cards. We literally watched the NBA playoffs together by phone when the Pacers and Lakers were in the playoffs! We watched Survivor together! Although he ruined it for me the second season! At that time, SC was an hour ahead of us, so I was watching and he already knew who won because it was already on there. He wasn't thinking and called me to ask me what I thought of the outcome! He of course laughed his butt off when he realized what he had done! I am very thankful for those many hours we spent on the phone! There were so many years when we didn't even know where he was! We wouldn't hear from him for a few years, then we would come home and find him sitting on the front porch! Then, he would leave again and we wouldn't know when we'd see or hear from him again. So, just being able to pick up the phone and call him was great. Of course, when I started working and the kids got older we didn't get to talk as much. But we still tried to talk in the mornings on my way to work. I am going to miss that. I can't bring myself to delete his number from my phone, so it's just going to have to stay there!
After we left Lucinda's, we all went back to the hotel. Travis broke open the wine Mom had brought. Travis, Mom and I ended up polishing off 3 bottles! I can honestly say, I didn't have as much as they did! We all sat up with Fantacy and just talked until the wee hours of the morning! 3 am to be exact! Poor Chloe and Peyton passed out in one of the beds. We had such a great time. Travis did Mark impressions and had us ROLLING! They were dead on! We never get the chance to visit like that and I really enjoyed it. We finally got to sleep about 4 and got up about 8:30-9:00. Not enough sleep for this old lady! We went for lunch and just hung around the hotel until it was time for the memorial service. The service was very nice. I think Uncle Mark would have liked it. Afterwords, Travis and Fantacy headed out and Mom and I went back over to Lucinda's house. We had a nice meal and visited some more. I don't think Lucinda realizes how thankful we all are for taking care of Mark. She was good to him and we really appreciate that. I really felt to welcome in her home and I hope we can all keep in touch.
We left out Monday morning for home. We had plans to go as far as Gatlinburg and spend the night there. We were kind of worried because everyone kept calling and telling us about the weather in mountains! The roads weren't too bad. There was snow in Spartenburg, SC. We were laughing at how excited everyone was to have to snow there! One guy actually pulled over on the interstate and let his kid make a snowman! And at the gas station, a family let their little boy out to play on the snow! They were running through it, throwing snowballs. Funny to us, because we are OVER snow! As we got closer to the mountains, it was a BEAUTIFUL ride! I kept tryng to get pictures through the windows. Then when we got to Gatlinburg, we stopped at one of their lookout points and I got THE picture I had been trying to get all day! It was truly a breathtaking view! So, beautiful that we went back there this morning before we headed out just to get a few more pictures and one last look! After breakfast at Krispy Kreme, we headed out for our long trip home. We stopped in Corbin, Kentucky and had lunch at the orginal KFC. I love me some KFC! Anyway, we got home around 6:30 this evening and I am beat! Although this wasn't exactly a pleasure trip, I am thankful for the time we all got to spend together. That just doesn't happen often enough!