Holiday Wrap-up
Saturday, December 31st, 2005Compared with last year, this year’s holiday season has been awesome!!! That’s in relative terms, of course. In absolute terms, the season passed fairly quietly. Mom came out to St. Louis to spend Christmas with the boys, decided she needed to catch up on the sleep she’d missed the last year, and promptly slept for 95% of the week she was here. It was our pleasure to have her though. She needed a place where she had no responsibilities for a week and could rest her mind and body.
The day after Christmas, she and I ventured back to Virginia, the first leg in my 3000 miles in a week campaign. Tuesday and Wednesday were spent figuring out what she needed to bring with her to Florida that could fit into the shoe box she calls a car. Amazingly we fit more than a garment or two in that sucker. Thursday, we shoved off from Virginia for leg two; a trip to St. Petersburg, Florida, where Mom is to take up residence and employment. After stopping in Jacksonville to spend the night with avery and her family, we arrived at the house where Mom was to rent a room for the next 8 months.
The house is a perfect fit for her. It is small, easily maintainable, on a very quiet street, and quite near a quaint downtown. The owner, Linda, is an interesting lady and will provide Mom with some much needed companionship.
St. Petersburg itself is nice. It is about a 30 minute drive from the house to the beach on the Gulf coast. Tampa Bay is a block away from the house. The temperature these last two days has been 72 and 77; not too shabby for late December. Downtown is pleasant; it is not a business district per se, but certainly caters to the tourist demographic. Sadly we were not able to investigate Tampa Bay yet, but I’m sure the bigger city will provide plenty of entertainment on subsequent visits.
Leg three begins tomorrow as I rejoin Avery and a couple friends for the trek back to sunny St. Louis! As they return to learn, I return to code.
