Look Homeward, Angel

"There are a lot of bad days. There are a lot of good ones.

You'll forget. There are a lot of days. Let it go."

-Thomas Wolfe (Look Homeward, Angel)

I had a good sleep Monday night, which I greatly needed. On the drive home from Cookeville we took our time and most of the drive was in silence (mind you, not angry silence!) - except for that annoying sound from Robin's convertible top that I can't seem to figure out! I did a lot of thinking on the way and came to the realization that I have no regrets about the drama that happened in Illinois. I have decided that I'm not going to go into what else happened, out of complete respect for my Uncle. I do, however, stand behind my feelings and the things I said and am 100% percent sure about the things that were NOT said. Like I said before, it is what it is and there are no take-back's.

I think all the recent traffic on my blog from my Dad's hometown is pretty interesting! I guess people are lurking and waiting for something exciting to happen. I suppose people don't know that I can see, behind the scenes, all the personal ISP addresses that visit my blog. Do they not know that I can follow every move and click that people make? I can see who visits, what page they land on, what pages they visit and how long their stay is. Isn't the internet a wonderful thing?

So, back to the drive home... It was good, uneventful and lovely. The weather in Tennessee and North Carolina was gorgeous. We actually got a little sunburn from riding with the top down. I knew the weather in Charleston was still hot and humid so I tried to enjoy the cool weather as much as I could! By the time we arrived in Hendersonville, NC the sun was starting to set and Robin decided she wanted an apple from an actual orchard. It was around 4pm so we knew that most of the orchards would be closing, also the NC Apple Festival was this past weekend so who knew if there were even any apples left!

When we first arrived in Hendersonville I told Robin I wanted to stop by Oakland Cemetery to take some photos of the statue that inspired one of my favorite books "Look Homeward, Angel" by Thomas Wolfe. I visited there years before on a trip with my Mother but the camera I had back then was awful. I really wanted another chance to shoot some pics, especially since this was my favorite time of day... just before sunset when everything is golden. While I took photos (and was attacked by cemetery mosquitoes) Robin called around to see if any apple orchards were open.

Isn't she beautiful?

After I couldn't take any more bug bites I went back to the car and we were off to look for apples. We drove up Chimney Rock Road to an orchard just to find out that they were closed for the day. Oh well. It was getting late so we decided to stop at the grocery store for a snack and it looked like all the apples were actually shipped in! Why would they do that when there are orchards all over Hendersonville?? Weird!

We also saw these:

and I'm still trying to figure out what they are!

I think my favorite thing on our trip home was this guy:



First he had a stuffed chicken, then he had a stuffed squirrel! On our way back down the road we crept along and timed it so we would be stopped at the red light so I could take his picture! I think we made a new friend in Hendersonville! Hmmm... I bet he knew what those things are at the grocery store. I should have asked him!!

Back to work and reality for me tomorrow and to be honest, I'm actually looking forward to it. I told Robin yesterday that we should move to Hendersonville where she can work at the hospital. We'll live in a double-wide and I can harvest some apples and make fresh apple fritters for her and our fur-children every day. It would be nice to just get away from it all for once.

I guess the moral of this past week is that we are responsible for our own happiness. If you depend on others you will most likely be disappointed. And by the way, I may not have a lot of family left, but I'm far from lonely. Have you met my girlfriend? My many devoted and loyal friends? My dogs and cat?

It may not be the perfect life, and it may not be like yours, and I may not believe in the things that you believe in... but it's my life and I think I'm pretty fantastic.