Day 1 - Henderson, NV - Part One

"One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things." - Henry Miller

Day One - Santee, CA to Henderson, NV - Daily Distance - 327 miles, The Bucket Trip distance - 327 miles

I got a bit of a bonus drive on Saturday. I had to drive from Orange County to Santee to meet up with my Mom and Jack. I had asked her if they could just pick me up along the way but she wanted to just take the 15 straight up and not have to make the side trip to the OC to get me.

The drive south was fine. It only backed up at the Del Mar fairgrounds and it gave me a lot of time to think about what was going to happen on this trip. What memories do I want to make during this month? What stories do I want to hear? What needs to be said so that there is nothing left unsaid?

I made really nice time and got to their neighborhood in 90 minutes. As I pulled onto their feeder street, SDG&E had the entire street blocked! An actual roadblock! (Not the last Amazing Race reference). I pulled up to the construction worker (and wondered where the police officier, the indian, the biker, cowboy, and the sailor were) and asked for directions to get to my Mom's house.

I ended up having to go the long way around and it struck me that I'm probably going to have about a month of this ahead of me. There is no straight line on this trip. Plenty of detours await.

Getting to their house, I walk in and head to see my Mom. She's sitting in a new chair that can rise up and get her into a close to a standing position. There's plenty of action in the house and Jack is packing the new Jeep and trying not to forget anything. My Mom's older sister is also there. She has been living there for a while as my mom and Jack get used to this new normal.

My aunt gives me a rundown of the things that I can do to make things easier for my Mom and Jack and before you know it, we are all off and heading to Henderson, Nevada.

One of my big responsibilities will be to help my mom get in and out of our car. I'm not gonna lie, it isn't easy. Not because of her weight. It is just so awkward. I have to get better at this and soon. If you don't get it just right, it becomes very uncomfortable for her.

I have got to get better at this.

JVW