The drive back to Sikeston is a long one.
I'm tired and exhilarated at the same time.
Visiting Marceline was one of those things on my own Bucket List and now that was done.
I wasn't sure how my Mom's and Jack's day was going and I wanted to get back as quickly as possible.
As long as I avoid getting a speeding ticket.
I set the route on my iPhone and I'm off.
Unfortunately, I don't take a look at it before I leave and the iPhone takes me on a country road with pretty much nobody on it.
I'm not going to lie. It is nervewracking.
I just imagine this new Jeep breaking down and all of a sudden I'm the protoganist in a found footage horror movie fiding himself on the business end of a terrifying banjo player.
When my cell service picks up, a text from my Mom comes in.
She wants me to pick them up at Claudette's house.
I need to fill the Jeep up with gas first and then get checked back into our hotel.
Once I have that down, I'm off to Claudette's.
When I get there, everyone is in the front room. My Mom is in the recliner that Claudette's husband normally sits in.
She's comfortable sitting up for the first time on the trip.
They've already had dinner but Claudette fixes me a taco really quickly.
We just sit and visit in their front room. Claudette's granddaughters, "The Chicks," are haning out with us. There is a Cardinal game on TV that they are half-watching.
And for now, everything is normal.
There's no Bucket Trip.
There's no ALS.
There's just our family hanging out.
Claudette hss Madison put on a little show for us. She's been seeing a vocal coach for a while.
Madison takes the stages - or the top of the stairs to the kitchen that we had to carry my Mom up the other day - and she starts to sing.
She is better than good. Has an old country sound to her.
Now, I'm not into country music but I do know when somebody has talent.
At 11 years old, she can sing.
We don't stay too much longer. It is dusk when we leave and the lightening bugs are dancing across the street.
We say our goodbyes and load my mom into the car.
Driving down the country road back out to the main highway, the lightening bugs line the street like the landing lights at an airport landing strip.
It was a long one but I don't think this day could have gone any better.
!!!!!
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